


Metallic

by ver_ironica



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Body Horror, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, M/M, Mind Manipulation, Shance Big Bang 2017, Vomiting, shangst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2019-01-21 18:38:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 20,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12463545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ver_ironica/pseuds/ver_ironica
Summary: Lance is captured by the Galra. By the time the team can save him, there are parts of him that can never be healed. He wants to go to Shiro for comfort, but doesn't want to be a burden. The darkness from Haggar's magic threatens to hurt both of them.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The fabulous art for this fic was made by [constant-cataclysm](http://constant-cataclysm.tumblr.com/) on tumblr! You can find it with Chapter 5!
> 
> Edit: double-spaced breaks indicate a scene change! Sorry, my lines didn't go through right.
> 
> Update: I added a tag for body horror, as someone pointed out it could be a bit squicky! I would say it's not horribly graphic, but a warning just in case!

"Takashi! Takashi, come inside this instant!"

He was hiding in his favorite sneaking spot. He wasn't going to go inside, he was going to wait until they weren't mad at him. They found him anyway, with clucks of annoyance and also relief. They knew him so well, he should've known better. 

"Did you break this?"

He said no by shaking his head and looking at the floor. But his hands had lines and scratches, and one of his shins hurt from where pieces fell against him. The buttery yellow light of his kitchen softened the bright red of the cuts, maybe his parents wouldn't notice.

"Are you sure?"

He began to cry. 

"Takashi, it's alright. It happens. Just tell us the truth. That's more important."

His mother always made him feel safe. He shouldn't feel so guilty for smashing the flower vase on accident. But he hated making her so sad. 

"I--I was playing and--I ran into it," he hiccuped. "I'm sorry about your flowers, Mom. I'm sorry about your floors, Dad." He sobbed until he couldn't breathe. 

"Takashi, Takashi," his parents soothed while they cleaned. They taught him how to avoid the glass shards. "Don't be so upset, it's alright."

The floor was finally cleaned up. They cleaned him up, too, putting kisses and Band-aids on his cuts and scratches. 

Shiro smiled faintly at the memory, and wondered what his parents would think of his new scars. 

 

If Lance didn't focus on where he was, the purple lights were almost comforting. They reminded him of a friend, a hero, a leader―giving him a small flicker of reassurance. He knew he was just tricking himself into thinking that way, but when you are desperate, even fake comfort almost felt like the real thing. Almost.

"Move along," the soldier grunted behind him. 

Lance was already stumbling along on his bruised legs as fast as they would take him. With his hands in cuffs, he had no way to right his balance, and nearly fell after the Galra shoved him. Somehow, he managed to keep his feet. He always had a talent for keeping himself steady. 

_If only I had a real talent,_ he wished in vain. _Something like Hunk's strength, or Pidge's cunning, or Keith's combat ability. Or Shiro's..._

He recoiled quickly from the thoughts. Thinking of his team hurt him, made an ache in his chest move to the forefront of his awareness. Too late, his mind wandered back to the last time he saw his teammates as he stumbled along in the dark hallways. 

 

"Pidge, on your right, what is that?" Hunk shrieked. 

"My scanners are displaying a huge lifeform hybrid, it must be a Robeast!" Pidge reported. 

"Alright Team, we don't need to waste any time individually, there are people on that planet that need help now," Shiro said. "You all know what we need to do."

"Form Voltron!" 

The Team came together, and Voltron stood ready, sword pointed at the large ship that had warped toward them. 

A large bay door opened, revealing a giant creature in Galra armor. It was larger than the Castle of Lions, and dragon-like in shape. It had a long body wrapped in dull metal plates. Rows of arms were lined up along its sides. A long tail flared back and forth, a large sharp point poised behind the Robeast. 

"Watch out for that tail, I'm calling it now," Hunk warned. 

"Hunk, shoulder gun!" Shiro ordered. 

The cannon appeared on Voltron's shoulder, and they took aim at the Beast. 

The Robeast moved its long body in front of its face. The plates of metal that covered it began to glow, and fine laser points came together in front of it. The armor's lasers melded together and created a shield similar to a particle barrier, easily batting away Voltron's blast. The team groaned in dismay. 

"This isn't going to be easy, is it?" Pidge sighed. 

"It just brushed off our attack like it was nothing!" Lance cried out. 

The dragon came at Voltron, whipping its long body like lightning. It was as wide around as Voltron itself, and barreled straight into them. Voltron flew back uncontrollably, each of the Paladins struggling to get their Lions to respond and regain control. They steadied Voltron, just in time for the dragon to slam into them again. 

They were on a course for falling back down onto the planet below them. 

"Team!" Shriro said. "We can't bring this down onto the planet. Allura and Coran are trying to save the people right now, we need to keep this thing away. Any ideas?" 

"What if we aim for the spots between the armor with the sword?" Keith suggested. 

There were tiny kinks in the armor to allow the Beast to move fluidly. As Voltron flew around to lead the dragon away from the planet, Pidge scanned it over for the weakest spots. 

"Let's try it," she said. 

Keith activated Voltron's powerful sword, and they flew in fast and close to the Beast. The dragon was about to fly into them again, but as the sword swung, the Beast moved its tail in front to stop it. 

The tail was hard, and nearly made Voltron drop their sword. Keith gave out a startled cry at the impact. 

"Keith!" Shiro yelled, voice filled with worry. 

Everyone felt Shiro's fear and Keith's pain through their shared mind links. It was enough to make the others recoil, wincing. 

"Everyone okay?" Lance asked quickly. Keith groaned in answer, and they collectively sighed with relief. They couldn't lose their focus now. He needed to help. "Now, by using its tail, it's leaving its underside exposed!"

The Team understood what he was saying. They used their strength to push the dragon's tail away, and quickly struck out at its underside. Shields materialized in an instant, and the impact sent Voltron reeling. 

Before they could recover, the Robeast attacked, more furiously than before. 

It descended on them, tail flickering, and shields forming and flashing along its body. The dragon grabbed onto Voltron with too many sets of arms for Lance to count. 

In a bright flash, Voltron was torn apart. 

The cries of his teammates echoed in Lance's head. He was dazed, the sudden absence of four other minds from his own was dizzying. His Lion was hurting, her pain filling his senses. 

"Everyone alright?" Shiro asked. 

"I'm gonna be sick," Hunk groaned. 

"My arm," Keith gasped. "I'm sorry guys, I can't―when the monster grabbed us―" 

The Black Lion moved to protect the Red Lion in a quick motion in front of Lance's eyes. "I've got you buddy," Shiro assured. 

"Green isn't responding to me!" Pidge cried out. 

Lance felt fear fill his stomach at her worried tone. He was moving Blue to cover her before he even realized what he was doing. "I'll protect Pidge. Hunk, give us some cover if you can."

"We need to come up with a plan!" Hunk yelled, fear thick in his voice. Yellow moved to distract the dragon, but couldn't get very close. There was no way Yellow would be able to withstand a collision, even with the extra armor. And the Beast was far to agile for Hunk to keep up with. 

A strategy came to Lance's mind quickly. "I've got one! First--Pidge, are you alright?"

"Yeah," she said. "Green is coming around, too, but she's sluggish."

"Can she cloak herself?" 

"I think so," Pidge said, voice uncertain. 

"Go invisible, and then aim for the kinks in the armor. Shoot your vine ray at it!" Lance said with confidence. 

"They can't form without a carbon source!" she protested. Her voice was panicked.

"The dragon beast thing is a carbon source, right?" Lance said. She sounded freaked out and probably wasn’t thinking clearly. All living things are made of carbon, at least Lance hoped he was remembering biology correctly.

The dragon seemed to be pacing back and forth, but still not attacking. _Maybe it only attacks when it's attacked?_ It tilted its head as if listening for something. 

Pidge hummed, weary. 

"Just trust me, okay?" Lance asked. "Hunk, cover Keith. Shiro, I need your wings." As they were speaking, the Robeast was tilting its head, as if listening to sounds from far away. Lance was thankful that it wasn't immediately attacking them.

"What's your plan?" Shiro asked. 

"Shiro, fly in low, underneath it, with Black's wings spread as far as they can go. Hopefully, the wings will trigger the sensors for the shielding on either side of the Beast. It should leave an opening on top for Pidge to attack."

"Got it."

"What about me?" Hunk asked. 

"Hunk, go for its head! Slam into it with all of Yellow's strength."

"Okay..." Hunk agreed weakly. 

"Keith?" Lance said into the coms. 

"Lance?" Keith grunted. 

"Can you fight?" 

Keith paused. "Yes." 

"Okay, buddy, I need your firepower. You and I will aim for the tail. If we keep using heat and cold, we can lock up the joints in its armor there."

"You got it," Keith said with a bit more conviction. 

"I hope this works, Lance," Shiro said. 

Lance felt a pang of hurt at the doubtful tone. "Don't worry, we've got this," Lance said with a wink at the coms, ignoring the feeling. 

"Let's do this, Team!" Shiro said.

The Lions flew in fast and the Robeast tensed, alert and poised to attack. Keith, always quickest, fired a blast directly at the Beast's tail. It looked at Keith with an eerie precision and moved at him in a flash. 

Hunk barrelled Yellow into the Beast's head while it aimed for Keith. The slightest delay in the shield lasers' response to attacks was the only thing that allowed the entire plan to work. A weak blue shield had flickered in front of its face, but wasn't formed enough to protect it from Hunk’s forceful momentum. 

It's giant glowing eyes spun, confused, searching for its target. 

Shiro glided Black swiftly underneath the dragon's belly, spreading her wings out in a beautiful movement. Lance's stomach clenched at the sight, in awe of Shiro's ability with his Lion. There was always a knot of fear at the thought of how Shiro hadn’t been able to pilot Black, and that it would happen again any time. 

But Lance didn't want to think about that as he swooped in to add his ice to Keith's fire. 

The Robeast's shields were focused on the Black Lion beneath it, and left Pidge an opening at the top. She flew down invisibly in Green, getting close enough for her beam to reach. 

The monster's tail occasionally broke free of the heat that threatened to melt the armor pieces together, or the ice that clung to the creases, but it wasn't fast enough to lunge upward at the Lion once it noticed her.

Pidge fired rapidly in a line down the dragon's body. She struck with amazing accuracy. Vines erupted from the monster between the kinks in its armor. It cried out, the sound lost in the vacuum of space. The vines wrapped around it, pinning its arms to its body. The little lasers for the shields were blocked, and flickering blues were all that were able to materialize. 

"Yes!" Lance cheered, throwing his hands in the air, a bit surprised that his plan actually worked.

"Now Team, let's finish this," Shiro said. 

"Right!" 

They moved in swiftly, the Lions using their natural strengths together in the familiar rhythm they had developed. Hunk rammed into the dragon's face again, and Keith's and Lance's Lions finally got the tail to completely shut down, the lights blinking off. Pidge continued firing her beam as the vines died, with no air or atmosphere to sustain them for more than a few moments. 

They thought they had won. The dragon Robeast shuddered, and its lights dimmed along its body. Shields no longer flickered. 

Hunk let out a huge sigh of relief. Keith gave a soft chuckle, tinged with the pain he was feeling in whatever injuries he'd received before. Pidge whooped loudly. 

"Nice job, Team Voltron," Shiro said finally. "Lance, that was so amazing, great work."

Lance couldn't help the goofy grin on his face as his teammates agreed and complimented him. Praise from Shiro always left his stomach fluttering. 

"Now we need to get Keith some medical attention and go help Allura and Coran save the others," Shiro said. The Team agreed, and moved to descend to the planet. 

Lance's gut still felt unsettled, something wasn't right. The others continued on, but he turned Blue around to face the dark Robeast. It was silent and the lights were off, just as they had left it. 

Then why was Lance's heart still racing in his ears? 

He turned Blue back toward the planet, trying to brush off the uneasy feeling. He rushed to catch up to his team. 

There was no sound as the Robeast awoke. There was no sound as it flew at Lance's Lion, snapping poor Blue up in its jaws. 

"Agh!" Lance cried out. _What's going on?_

"Lance?"

"What happened?"

_"Oh no! Lance!"_

_"Help him!"_ Shiro commanded desperately. 

Lance couldn't see anything. The entire cockpit of his Lion was crushed in the dragon's grasp. He dimly heard the voices of his team as the lights in Blue powered down with a weak whimper. 

"Shi...ro..." he tried to call for help, but could barely make a sound. Crashes against his Lion shook him, dazing him. His oxygen was depleting as the cracks in his Lion pulled it into the void of space. It was so cold. 

He faded away as the monster took him. 

 

 _Now everything I see is a monster,_ Lance thought to himself. The Galra soldier behind him shoved him forward again, the quiet halls filled with the echoes of their footsteps and Lance's gasps of pain. _Monster after monster..._

They didn't tell him where they were going, they never do that. He had only left his cell a few times before this, and never for very long. He was shown off to different aliens, as proof that he was a Galra captive. Lance assumed they were spreading word about Voltron's weakness so more enemies would take advantage of his team. He glared at every alien he saw now, earning him many slaps and kicks. 

The lights seemed to grow dimmer as they headed down yet another corridor. "You guys should really invest in some floor lamps, or maybe string lights. It would really brighten the place up," Lance said conversationally. 

"Shut up," the Galra soldier behind him grunted, smacking him between his shoulders hard enough to make him wince high between his teeth. 

They finally reached a large set of doors, more ornate and decorated than anything Lance had seen on a Galra ship before. "Gee, I wonder who's behind that door," he muttered under his breath. His act involved being unfazed and bored, so they wouldn't know how terrified they made him. 

"You're to be presented to Haggar now," the soldier said. 

His knees nearly gave out underneath him. The Galra gripped his shoulders, hard, holding him up as the door began to open. _Why the witch? Please no..._

The doors slowly opened inward with a gently tug on the air, almost as if drawing Lance into an open maw of a huge beast. Deep purple lights glowed in the room, barely illuminating the gigantic space. The ceilings were so high they were veiled in darkness. 

A large throne occupied the center of the room. Lance could see there was no one seated at it, but a hooded figure stood hunched beside it. 

The guard shoved Lance inside, and the doors sealed him in. On wobbly legs, Lance walked over to the witch. He knew as he was he stood no chance of beating her. 

"So I guess you haven't seen any tips on interior decorating lately?" Lance asked. "Here's one: you need some other accenting colors in here. The purple is just a bit too much." His voice cracked on the word "here," giving away his fear. He hoped Haggar didn't notice.

"Is that what a Paladin of Voltron has to say to the High Priestess, the most powerful Druid of the Galra Empire, and your captor?" Haggar asked, turning toward him. The red lines down her face looked like open wounds, and her voice rasped in his ears. 

"If you wanted a better speaker, you should've captured Coran," Lance said with a shrug. Even though he was joking, in his head he begged for whatever God that could hear him in space that they would never touch Coran. It was better that they had him instead. 

Her eyes were obscured by her cowl, but Lance could almost hear them narrowing. "Why do you think you were captured?" she asked him. 

"Convenience," Lance said. "Luck. Good luck for you, bad for me." 

"That's it? _Luck?_ " Haggar spat. "That's the best you have to say to me?" Purple lighting flickered at her fingertips, the taste of ozone filling the room. 

"Why do you have to play games with me?" Lance yelled, scared of her magic, scared of being played with, angry at being scared. "Just torture me and be done with it!" 

Before he could blink, purple arcs of lightning jutted across the room. They clawed into his chest, making him scream in pain. He dropped to the floor in a loose heap. Still conscious, he realized with dread that the magic had only lasted a few seconds, but had completely incapacitated him. 

"Is that what you wanted, Blue Paladin?" Haggar asked, her harsh voice dripping with satisfaction. 

This time Lance couldn't be bothered to pretend. He glared from the floor at the witch, weak tears leaking from the corners of his eyes. He struggled to lift his body off the ground. 

"I thought not," she rasped smugly. "Now, I will explain the reason you are here."

"Why bother?" Lance asked shortly, not even sure why he said anything at all. "I don't care."

Haggar smiled widely at him, her teeth gleaming in the dim light. "I am explaining because I have a reason to believe you do care. The weakness of Voltron is how deeply sentimental you all are. Strength has no time for such vestigial emotions."

Lance rolled his eyes, working his way up to his knees. "Just cut this short for me, will you? I'm pretty busy being a prisoner right now."

"Shut up," she snapped. "Think, if your small brain has the capacity, back, to the fight with my beautiful creation. The space dragon Robeast was given a communicator implanted into its mind, and through it I could see what it saw, and send it commands."

Lance finally stood, if a bit wobbly. His chest ached, and the black suit he had on was torn in the center. It was cold without its thermal regulation. 

"We tapped the signal of the Lions," Haggar said smugly. "We heard every word of your planning and strategizing." 

Her words reminded him of how the Robeast behaved, cocking its ear as though listening to a sound from far away. _She must have been giving it orders then..._

"And that's when I realized I didn't need to capture all of the Lions to destroy Voltron. Without their best strategist, Voltron will not be successful. After we remove you, the rest of the Lions will fall easily into our hands."

Lance looked at her sharply. "You don't mean..."

"You are bait, the one Paladin of Voltron that would have kept the rest of them from falling into our trap," Haggar said with a deadly smile. 

"No," Lance said quickly. "They'll..." _They'll what? How will they save Blue or me without forming Voltron? Will they even try, and risk losing all of the Lions?_

"You quickly realize how easily you have been played. For being their best strategist, you are still only a child pretending in a game with the Empire. Our strength is unstoppable," Haggar said. 

"They'll rescue me, I'd bet my life on it!" Lance yelled. 

"You can't bet what you don't own," she said sternly, as though lecturing a child. "And right now, Blue Paladin, _we own you_."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They don't let him go down easy, do they?

In the days that followed, there wasn't much of a respite from the pain. 

Lance was dragged from his cell now to meet with Haggar regularly, or one of her many other druids if she was busy. They would interrogate him for information, most of which he didn't have. When they were done they gave him a sedative that pulled him into a restless sleep, but moderately helped his body heal so that he wouldn't die. Just barely. 

"What was the code Alfor programmed into Voltron to give one complete control of the system?" the druid hissed. 

"I seriously have no idea, they never-- _agh!_ " His plea was cut short as the druid clawed at his side with blades made of something like solid smoke. His arms strained against the metal clasps that held him down to the cold table. It was too much. 

"Just kill me," Lance begged in a whisper. 

"Soon enough," the duid said. She forced vile liquid down Lance's throat that pulled him unconscious before he was dragged limply back to his cell. 

 

The lights still reminded him of someone that hurt to think about. 

How long has it been now? Lance had no idea. There wasn't even a cycle similar to the one Coran installed on the Castle Ship. There was only the constant haze of dark lighting. Lance would be dragged awake, questioned, and then drugged asleep. Occasionally there was a meal, just enough to keep the pangs in his stomach from being too painful. He felt ill, shaky, and weak. His half-healed injuries were constantly on fire.

The thing that worried him the most was how numb he was becoming. 

It started with him stopping his snarky attitude. He simply couldn't bother to keep it up anymore. Silence was easiest, and the least painful most of the time. He couldn't answer their questions, and gave up trying to tell them that. 

"Where is Voltron now? Who pilots the Black Lion?" 

"No idea, and you already know the answer to that," Lance mumbled. "Just kill me."

"Why haven't they come to save you yet, little Paladin?" Haggar sneered. "You were supposed to be the bait. Did we capture the worst member of Voltron? So dispensable, that even that silly sentimental Princess would leave you to die here?"

He wasn't numb enough for questions like those. He winced as if punched at the mention of Allura. "Leave them alone. They're doing the right thing."

"Oh?" Haggar said smugly. "Didn't you try to bet your life on them rescuing you?" 

Lance sighed, doing everything he could not to let her see him crying. 

She hissed out her raspy laugh. "You have finally learned our game. Pity, you won't be around much longer to use this knowledge." 

Haggar waved an arm out to one of her other Druids, and they didn't have to force the liquid down Lance's throat anymore. He simply opened his mouth and succumbed to the sleep that followed. 

 

"Today, you fight, little Paladin," Haggar said happily. 

"Thank goodness," Lance sighed, full of relief. Finally, someone would kill him. 

Haggar chuckled, low and menacing in her throat. "Oh, you think your death is soon? Foolish little Paladin. You won't be given the opportunity to fight in the gladiator pits, I'm afraid. No, you will be doing something more... productive with your time here."

Lance's stomach dropped and his throat tightened, he felt like he was going to vomit. A Druid behind him clasped a large, heavy collar around his neck. He ignored them, instead pleading, "Please... Haggar... please, no more. You win. Please."

Her smile gleamed, sharp and dangerous under the shadow of her cowl. Her clawed fingers stoked his cheek, and he recoiled from the touch. She said nothing, just continued leading him and her ever present Druids to a new hallway Lance hadn't seen yet. 

A large door loomed in front of them. Lance felt like he was watching himself stand, swaying slightly, in front of it while it began to creak open. He watched himself step forward into the darkness. 

Inside, there wasn't even the comfort of the purple lights he was so used to. There was one small red light on what Lance assumed was the ceiling, barely illuminating a massive silhouette in front of him. It breathed heavily, stirring dust into Lance's face and eyes. 

"Do I get a weapon?" he asked in a monotone voice, devoid of any emotion. 

"Of course," Haggar rasped. She handed him a small Galra blaster. "That has twelve shots in it before it needs recharged," she told him. "Use those shots wisely. You will not be given more." 

Lance nodded, utterly numb. 

"Now, my creature, fight!" Haggar yelled out. 

More lights than Lance had seen in weeks burst on all at once, stunning him. He threw an arm over his face, blinded by their brightness. He felt the ground tremor underneath his shaky legs, and he stumbled, almost losing his footing. 

He peaked through his hands up at the monster. 

It was covered in a mix of fur and metal, and two pairs of glowing red eyes. It's mouth was exposed from the armor, full of sharp teeth that were too big for its jaws. It growled, and Lance felt the vibrations deep in his gut. 

_This will be over soon,_ Lance thought with a glimmer of relief. He dropped his gun down onto the floor, the clang echoing in the room. He fell down to his knees. 

"It won't be that easy, little Paladin!" Haggar roared. 

Pain, radiating outward from the collar, suddenly encapsed Lance's entire body, like he hadn't felt before. He screamed out in agony, falling to the ground and reaching for anything to clutch on to. He grabbed for the gun and the pain ceased, almost as if he had imagined it. He vomited weakly on the floor. 

"You must fight, or that will happen again and again. It is not enough to kill you," she lectured him. 

Lance groaned, tears leaking out of the corners of his eyes. _Fine,_ he decided. _I'll give her a fight._

As quickly as he could manage, he whipped the gun behind himself, firing at Haggar. He only shot once before the collar around his neck sent waves of fire throughout his body. " _Argh!_ " 

"Clever little one," Haggar said, almost in praise. Her robe was blackened on one side of her shoulder, but she was uninjured. "Now, use your anger on the Robeast!"

Lance yelled out again, the scream tearing through his throat. He shot at the eyes of the creature. 

The monster staggered backwards, roaring out in pain, a giant paw pressed to its face. Then it ran forward, charging at Lance. 

Quick as blinking, Lance noticed several things all at once. He noticed the creature had one leg chained to the floor behind it. He saw the plates of armor along its body were similar to the ones that had wrapped around the dragon Robeast, and guessed that they would provide shields as well. But he judged by the enhanced, glowing purple claws that this monster was more offensive than defensive. 

Lance shot his third blast at the leg that was wrapped in a chain. The shields activated, but instinctively the animal tried to jump away, and tugged hard on the chain. The chain didn't give, and instead made the monster fall to the floor with a crashing boom. 

He aimed his fourth shot at the monster's head again, shooting it directly into a red eye. The monster groaned, and fell silent. 

Lance turned around and threw his gun at Haggar, and she caught it with ease. 

"I hope you liked this trial," Haggar whispered to him. She teleported directly behind him, hissing in his ear. "You will see that this is again, not all I have in store for you, little Paladin." She placed a gnarled hand on his shoulder, and her touch alone dragged him unconscious. 

 

The routine quickly became established. Lance was given more food from then on, Haggar promising that it was time for him to become stronger. He was interrogated after he was woken up, and then set to fight a new abomination made by the Druids. The anger he felt at his situation began to manifest in his killing of the monsters, and he was always well under twelve shots by the time they were defeated. 

He felt himself growing lean and wiry, using his long limbs to his advantage and quickly seeking the best strategy to stop his opponents. The torture was growing more bearable and less painful, and the collar was hardly ever turned on more than a flicker. 

But this all was more devastating to him. By regaining strength, he felt himself wanting to live again. He felt himself _feeling_ again. 

And it hurt. 

After the drugs started to tug him into sleep one day, a thought burst into his head. 

_I gave up, and Shiro never did. I've accepted my fate. I'm broken. They broke me._

He fell into a fitful sleep. 

 

That was when they took his legs.


	3. Chapter 3

They left him in a stupor for what felt like days. They made him do strange tasks, running and stretches. He eventually figured out it was to let him heal, and grow used to his new appendages. Their metal surfaces gleamed, dark and cold gray.

He cried, trying to think of his past that he lost. His sobs were dry and ragged. Part of Lance wished he could forget everything. He wished he could become numb again, but it wasn't working. He saw the faces of his family on Earth, and his family in the stars, and felt a stab of pain as he realized he was forgetting. It was hard to remember the details of their features. He didn’t want to remember, and he didn’t want to forget. 

He thought of Shiro's scar, and his white streak. He sobbed harder.

Everything hurt. 

 

He kicked out, right leg glowing white, with a black cloud swirling around it. He lunged at the bird-like monster, slicing clean through its shields and landing at the joint in its wing. With a screech, it fell to the ground. For a second, Lance considered not finishing it off; it wouldn't make it through the trauma anyway. But as the creature screamed on the ground, he quickly fired one more shot to put it out of its misery.

The dark energy in his limbs swirled in his mind, clouding his thoughts. The more he used the legs instead of other weapons, the worse it got. He heard Haggar whispering in his mind without her ever moving her mouth. 

He gave up fighting it. 

_Good, little Paladin,_ she hissed. _You fight so well for me, you almost make me proud._

"Sure thing, Hags," Lance mumbled, a worried thought nudging the back of his mind. A small part of him was worried at the flutter of happiness that he had felt after Haggar had praised him. 

The rest of him didn't care. The more praise he heard, the less pain he felt. It was a good thing to just make her happy. 

A small part of his mind continued to flicker with worry. He ignored it again. 

"Your training does not end today, little Paladin," Haggar rasped aloud. "Since you defeated my monster so quickly, you will get more time to practice elsewhere." 

"What do you want me to do?" Lance asked. 

Haggar smiled as she led him away from the dying monster behind them. She took him down a new path, and his feet were excited to walk in a new direction. They crackled with black static. His thoughts weren't entirely his own, but the rest of his mind was tired of fighting them. It was easier not to think. 

She led him to a large room that reminded him of an area where people would train. It was familiar, though he couldn't place where he was reminded of. 

Four robotic gladiators were activated. Lance frowned at their appearance. One was tall and large, with yellow plates. One was very small, with a green torso. A third was about his size, with red colors. The last one was the tallest, stark in black armor. 

_Why are these so specific?_ Lance wondered. _Usually Galra stuff is all purple and dark... These are... different. Familiar..._ His mind tried to puzzle it out through the black haze in his head. A voice inside screamed that something was wrong, but he ignored it. Of course something was wrong, he was a prisoner. Nothing would ever feel right. 

Haggar's command stopped his thoughts. " _Fight them,_ " she ordered, aloud and in his mind. 

Lance lunged at the robots, tearing through them with kicks and blasts of his gun. He felt something in his mind crumple in agony. Tears streamed down his face, and he couldn't understand what was making everything hurt so much. 

"Perfect," Haggar said. 

 

Shiro paced in his room, unable to lie still for even a moment. 

Allura had said that they were close to bypassing the interference the Galra had in place around Lance's Lion. They used the data they had from when they freed the Red Lion to find the most likely place in the Universe to locate Blue. 

And finding Blue would lead them to Lance. 

It had been three months already. The more Shiro thought of Lance, the more he gained flashes and reminders of his own year in Galra captivity. His hair was ragged, hanging down in his eyes, and his forehead was sweating. 

He remembered the terrible darkness that used to surround his thoughts, stealing his memories away. He knew the team had to hurry to save Lance before they lost pieces of him forever. 

Shiro paced, and his hands shook as he ran them through his hair. 

"Lance, please," he begged, closing his eyes. "Don't give up. We're going to find you."

 

Lance felt a flicker of... _something_ familiar in his mind. He roused himself from sleep. It was the first time that he could remember waking up on his own. 

_What...?_

The presence in his mind shimmered again, and image of something trying to come into focus. Something blue. 

_Blue..._

Why was that important?

_Blue..._

Lance leaped out of his stiff bedroll. _Blue!_ His mind burst forth with the color, he saw the sky on Earth, his mother's eyes, the ocean lapping on Veradero Beach. 

He saw his Blue Lion. She roared in his mind, finally acknowledged. 

Tears sprang forth in his eyes. _Blue!_ He began to sob. He hadn't known how much he had missed her. The colors were so beautiful. 

_Are you okay, girl? Where have you been? How long have I..._

His mind began to ache. He fell down to his knees, the joints in his legs cool against the flesh of his thighs. He looked down as they started to glow, and black clouds formed around them. His mind filled with a dark presence. 

_Are you awake so soon, little Paladin?_ it hissed, curling its black smoke in the corners of his thoughts. 

_"Ah--!" _Lance gasped out, his vision hazing over as Haggar spoke thoughts into his mind. He clutched at his head.__

__Blue rays peaked through the darkness. Lance clung to them, reaching for the light in his vision._ _

__He shook away the darkness. His legs were under his own control._ _

__The collar on his neck began to flood his senses with pure pain._ _

__He thrashed on the ground, screaming in agony. He couldn't reach the device with his legs. He couldn't remove it. He couldn't think past the pain._ _

__Suddenly Haggar was in front of his cell, her form materializing. "Little Paladin," she said sternly, as if talking to a child._ _

__The pain suddenly stopped._ _

__Lance fell forward, entire body slumping with relief. Sweat stung his eyes. He blinked up at Haggar._ _

__"Th-thank you, Haggar," he said, welcoming the clouds in his mind. "Something blue... made everything hurt so badly..."_ _

__Her smile was as sharp as knives. "Don't worry, little Paladin, you are safe now."_ _

**  
**

"We've got a reading on Blue!" Allura cried out. 

Shiro ran over to her side. "How far?" He turned to the others. "Suit up, and get to your Lions!" 

Hunk, Pidge, and Keith ran to the armory. Shiro had already been dressed; he had taken to wearing his armor almost constantly in case there was a chance to save Lance. 

"We've shaken off the interference surrounding her quintessence. A drone piloted by my energy has seen to that," Allura said, her voice shaky with relief and a fierce anger. "It is not too far off. One wormhole jump, and we'll be there." Shiro nodded. 

He looked out over at the map, finding the Blue Lion's icon amidst the stars. 

Shiro thought of Lance as he ran to his Lion.


	4. Chapter 4

Kick, dodge, fire, repeat. 

Sweat slicked his brow as he moved under a robot's attack, quickly kicking a glowing leg around and down onto the top, caving in the metal. The green gladiator fell to the floor. 

He felt something inside himself twist and cry out in anguish at the sight. Tears that he couldn't control overflowed onto his face. 

He punched the next robot with a yell. The red gladiator staggered backwards, and before it could regain its footing, Lance shot it with his gun, blasting it directly in the center. 

He choked back a sob.

_Please, make it stop,_ he begged. 

Something tried to reach out to him. It was vaguely familiar, but the memories in his head slipped through his fingers like water. He stretched his mind toward it, concentrating on the light colors filling his senses. Blue...

The yellow robot shot at him, landing a blow to his shoulder as he was too slow to dodge. 

"You're weak, little Paladin!" Haggar hissed from where she watched on the edge of the training room. 

He grunted, and threw his body into a fierce kick that sent the robot reeling. 

The final gladiator was always the hardest to beat. It was the only one that didn't immediately stop when he used his legs on its form. 

Lance first shot at its arm, and then at one of its feet. To dodge, the robot jumped up, twisting its body out of Lance's shots. He kicked out forcefully in the middle of the robot. It simply used the momentum to flip backwards, landing easily. 

It flicked a punch out, and Lance seemed to disconnect from his body as the fist hit his face. He fell to the floor.

The robot stood over him, and Lance couldn't bring himself to get up. Everything hurt too much. 

He gave up, letting the gladiator win. He was so tired of fighting.

A crash echoed throughout the room, shaking the floor. Lance closed his eyes against a bright light, before realizing it was inside his own mind. 

_Blue..._

He winced at the harsh pain. 

_Blue!_

A roar shook himself to the core. His Lion! He remembered her, she was here!

Lance tried to look up, but felt an intense pain wrack through his body. Haggar was screaming something. 

"No! This can't be happening, _he was almost ready!_ He was going to be even greater than the Champion!"

He heard voices shouting, achingly familiar voices. He glanced at the damaged robots on the ground, and at the one looming in above him. The pain made him unable to focus, form a thought, or move. He was utterly broken. 

The robot above him was suddenly knocked out of his field of vision. Replacing it was a much more fluid, living figure. 

It reached hands down to Lance, softly moving to pick him up. Lance blinked, taking in the Black Paladin armor. 

"Ah―!" he gasped, trying to get away. Every movement caused another wave of pain to ripple through his body. He vomited onto the floor as he struggled. "Let―me―go!" he choked out. 

_Everything I see is a monster,_ he reminded himself. 

"Lance," the figure said in a voice full of anguish. "Lance, no. It's me―it's me, Shi―"

"No!" Lance screamed before it could finish. "Please―leave me alone―go away!" 

He heard Haggar scream from a distance, her cries burning in his mind. He heard a crackle of energy, and somehow he thought he saw bursts of pink lash out toward the Druids. 

The pain slowly ebbed away. The collar around his neck came apart, falling to the ground in two heavy pieces. 

Lance blinked, and sagged with relief as the pain disappeared. 

"Was this hurting you?" the monster holding him asked. 

"Yes," Lance croaked. "It will happen again soon, though. I stopped fighting. It's always worse when I try to die." 

The figure above him began to cry. Hot tears dripped onto Lance's face. 

It pulled Lance up to its chest. He didn't fight it, just braced himself for the pain. 

"Lance, please look at me," it begged. 

Lance looked up. He saw a pale pink scar, and a shock of white hair. A name burst forth in his mind, with the dark purple tones that had always hurt to think about. A dark night sky.

_Shiro...?_

He faded into blackness, his mind shattered. 

 

When Lance opened his eyes, he couldn't tell if he was dreaming or awake. 

He felt himself falling, which was usually an indication that a dream is about to come to an end with a jolt. But instead of everything stopping suddenly, he felt large, gentle hands catch him, and ease him down. That was a point to the "awake" side of the debate. But the hands reminded him of being held after the Galra explosion destroyed the Castle. He couldn't make out anything around him, everything was far too bright. The lights weren't the purple of his Galra captors, which he decided was another clue that he was, in fact, just dreaming. 

"So, this is a dream then?" he asked aloud. "Two out of three signs point to dream."

"Two out of...? No, Lance, you're not dreaming," a voice as warm as the sun said, tinged with worry. 

"Oh," Lance said, confused. He tried squinting at the figures around him again, but couldn't make make a coherent image of anything. "That probably didn't make any sense then. Sorry." 

"How are you feeling?" a voice as sharp as a blade of grass asked. 

"Better," he answered. "I can't feel my legs, though." 

"We...took them off for you, so you could heal in the cryopod," a third person said, their tone crackling like a fire. 

Lance nodded, trying to roll with it. After how he had been treated for so long, this was the most pleasant interrogation he'd had. Or, wait, what was this exactly? He'd been asking all the questions. 

"What's going on?" Lance asked the people. He winced as he tried to focus his eyes again. How long would they hurt?

The hands holding him tightened slightly. 

"We've rescued you from the Galra, Lance," a sweet voice said gently. "You've been with them for three months, in your Earth time."

Lance burst out laughing, nearly falling out of the arms holding him. "Now I know I really _am_ dreaming. Wow, that one felt so real."

His eyes finally got used to the bright lights, and he took the opportunity to look at the people in his dream before he woke up. The smile on his face froze. It was... 

The faces of his Team looked at him, with concerned expressions and tears in their eyes. Hunk and Pidge looked like they had been trying to get closer, but at his words, stopped themselves. Keith remained guarded behind the others, but his wet eyes gave away his feelings. Allura was to his left, arms held tight around her chest, as if holding herself together. Coran was beside her, arm around her shoulders, looking at Lance with eyes so full of pain they hurt to see. 

Tears dripped down on him, and Lance looked up at their source. Shiro was the one holding him, his face tight with the effort to stop crying. Lance lifted a hand up, and touched his cheek. Shiro sobbed, unable to stop himself, biting his lip to muffle the sound. 

Lance felt confused tears fill his own eyes. "Guys? You guys―are you―is this―no, I can't―she's going to―" He couldn't speak anymore, and began hyperventilating. Visions of Haggar flicked across his eyes, and he felt a pain flare up on his neck, and he cried out, grasping at his throat.

"Lance, it's okay, you're safe now, please," Shiro whispered to him, pulling him close. 

He realized there was no pain. He had made himself feel it, imagining that Haggar still had him. Lance tried to control his breathing. 

"I'm so sorry we couldn't save you sooner," Shiro sobbed. Lance's heart broke at the expression on his face. 

His friends couldn't hold back their tears anymore, and they moved in to hug Lance in Shiro's arms. They all slowly sank to the floor, crying and holding each other. Lance couldn't comprehend, couldn't think about anything other than how much he had missed them. He let their voices and smells and touches fill his senses, trying to soak in as much as he could. 

"She had me," he whispered. "She broke me. I gave up--I almost forgot everything. I almost lost you all."

"We're so sorry, Lance," Allura said. 

Hunk, Pidge, and Keith cried out apologies. Shiro held him close. Coran couldn't stop crying, mumbling about not being able to save Lance like he had saved him after the explosion so long ago. 

Lance looked down at himself for the first time. He was still in the suit that they all wear under their Paladin armor. It was torn and ragged, and he could see where he had been cut and hurt, his body covered in scars peaking through the tears. His pant legs were cut at his thighs, revealing his missing legs. There were a few pieces of metal where the prosthetics would connect to his nervous system. 

"I was... in pretty rough shape." Lance tried to slow his racing heart. That was an understatement. _I was almost gone..._

"This is probably a lot for your to take in," Shiro said softly. "Would you like to eat and rest first? We can talk more later."

Lance's stomach clenched at the thought of food. "Maybe, but only a few bites. I'm not really..." 

Shiro nodded. "Hunk? Coran?"

"We made you a special dish," Coran told him, barely keeping his expression in check. 

"Your favorite," Hunk said, smiling at him. It was like a rising sun to Lance. 

Tears pooled up again, and his throat felt tight. "Thanks, you guys."

_I missed you all so much._


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so, so much for reading! Here is the [link](http://constant-cataclysm.tumblr.com/post/166763362542/this-is-my-submission-for-the-shance-big-bang-i) to the amazing artwork by constant-cataclysm!

Shiro thought about his parents a lot. He didn't know what they were doing now. He knew once he was leaving for Kerberos that his mother was about to publish another book, and his father was working hard for a promotion at work. He hoped they were happy.

Part of him knew he should never see them again. It had been years. They would be on their way to healing and moving on with their lives. Even if they could just stop defending the Universe for a while, what then? Would they pop into Earth for a visit? Only to leave again? 

If Shiro ended up dying in space anyway, they would have to go through all their heartbreak again. It would probably just be better to stay away. He didn’t know how much grief they could go through.

He dragged himself out of bed. _That’s enough of that._ He stretched, reaching up high to try to alleviate the soreness in his back. He was always sore, just from constantly training, being tense, and not sleeping well. He did a few other loose pulls and stretches, and might've felt a little better. Maybe.

He reached for his Galra arm that was sitting on his shelf. He braced himself before putting it on, getting himself ready for the feeling of another limb being connected to his nervous system. He gave a soft gasp at the sensation as it connected with a metallic _snick._

A sudden wave of guilt washed through him. He thought of Lance, and felt nauseous. 

_It's my fault, I wasn't a good enough leader,_ the thoughts came, no matter how much he tried to reason with himself. 

_There wasn't anything I could do,_ he argued back.

_All the torture, the loss of his legs... all your fault, Shiro._

He sighed, and slipped on his clothes. He needed to go train and clear his head. Arguing with yourself was annoying.

He also needed to talk to Lance today. Something in his chest gave a painful squeeze at the thought.

 

"The Castleship feels so comfortable. I'm really glad. Even though compared to Earth it's harsh and bright, compared to Galra interior decorating, it's like a big blanket," Lance sighed contentedly. 

"Uh, okay, I think I see what you mean buddy," Hunk agreed slowly. "So, you're feeling better then?"

Lance nodded, and he wasn't lying. But he still felt a bit removed from his body, like he was watching himself relax and be safe, rather than completely feeling it. A small part of him probably still wouldn't be surprised if everything was a dream. 

When he had woken up that morning, he hadn't known where he was for a solid hour. He felt panicked and trapped, frozen with fear. He couldn't slow his mind, blinking in the dim lighting, trying to piece together his situation. After a while, things slowly clicked into place without him realizing, until he finally relaxed his muscles and laid back down with a sigh. 

A memory trickled into his mind, way back on the night they accidently ran away from the Garrison. The night Lance had met Shiro in person. He remembered Pidge's feed on her laptop of Shiro screaming seemingly incoherent words at the Garrison hospital staff. He felt a flash of fear, even though he knew he wasn't like that. But he wasn't feeling completely altogether...

So he sought out Hunk. Hunk was the most grounding friend anyone could ask for, and Lance hoped he would help him feel more like himself. 

Hunk's breakfast helped a lot, even though Lance knew he was stress baking. The muffins and food goo jams and jellies were delicious, and he made sure to tell Hunk at least fifty times. He blushed at the compliments, and it was like a sun rising to Lance. 

"Hunk," Lance said seriously, trying to focus himself into his own body. 

"Yeah, Lance?" he answered nervously. 

"Do my legs weird you out?" 

Hunk gulped, but gave a very convincing shrug. "Only a little, because I'm worried about what you went through. I've looked at Shiro's arm as many times as he would let me, so I know how tightly linked it is to your nervous system. That's not an easy process, and you know how I get about...blood...and surgeries...and, yeah, you know." 

Lance nodded, humming thoughtfully. The memories he had of the time period during which he got his legs was hazy at best. He had probably been drugged and sedated through most of it, he reasoned logically. And then Haggar had entered his thoughts through the connection... He swallowed, putting a hand to his throat. 

"Hey, whoa, I'm sorry, you look pretty freaked out, buddy," Hunk said, alarmed, holding his hands out to Lance as if to support him somehow. 

Lance blinked, shaken. That little flash of fear brought him back into himself. "Sorry, Hunk. I think... I think I need to talk to Shiro." 

Hunk nodded. "Well, for lunch I'm gonna make a food goo carbonara, so don't miss it, okay?"

"I wouldn't for the world, buddy." 

 

Lance followed the sounds of grunts and robots and blasts, figuring his first place to look would be the training room. There wasn't a Team Meeting that morning, and he idly wondered if they still had them or if there wasn't one to give him some space. Either way, he wasn't woken up by the usual morning alarm. So Lance had to look for Shiro on his own. 

He rounded the corner to the training room, glancing in. Keith and Shiro were training, back to back, fighting off a horde of drones and gladiator robots. Shiro's bayard flashed dark and menacing in his hands, a long pointed spear that changed lengths, knocking down the fighter drones. Keith's sword lashed out, downing robot after robot. 

Lance's stomach tightened at the sight of the bots. He saw a flash of the robots that had been colored like the Paladins, the ones that he had been tortured into fighting for months...

He couldn't do it. Not yet. His legs were carrying him out of the room before he even realized he was moving. He had a hand resting on his neck, fighting off the flash of pain that followed the idea of resisting a fight. 

He was walking, and then he was jogging, and then he was sprinting. He wasn't really sure why, he just had to get as far away from his friends as he could. They couldn't know what a monster he had a become. 

He found himself at the pool. It was the right way now, after Keith and Lance had asked Coran to change it all those months ago. Lance had also put in a special request. The smell of the salt water filled his nose, and he felt a bit calmer. 

He went to the edge of the water and hesitated. _Are they waterproof?_ he wondered. He dipped his toes in. Nothing happened, and so he shrugged, and slipped off the rest of his outfit down to his boxers. He slowly waded in the shallow end, not stopping until the water was directly at his chin. 

He kicked up off the pool floor and started swimming laps. His body was sore from his months in awful conditions. His muscles weren't used to the motions of swimming again yet, and they were already aching. 

His breath sped up rapidly, and before long he was gasping for air and his arms were burning. His legs weren't tired, he wasn't even sure what it would feel like if they were tired. He kept pushing himself though, losing his thoughts in the rhythm of swimming back and forth, back and forth. 

Lance felt himself begin to cry. He couldn't help it. 

He threw himself forward in the water, changing his stroke. He felt himself wanting to go faster, to keep going until he was so tired his thoughts would finally return to normal, what they were like before he was captured. 

Without really meaning to, he powered up his legs. 

Instantly, a black haze filled his head. "Agh!" he cried out, slipping under the surface for a second. He tried to keep his head above water, but his arms were already exhausted. The pain in his head made it hard for him to focus on getting air. 

His thoughts were instantly warped, bringing him back to his Galra prison. His cell, the Druids, Haggar... They were all in front of him, all at once. And pain filled the spaces between the images. Haggar's smile flashed, sharp as a knife.

He tried crying out for help, but started choking on water filling his throat. His vision was dark, all he could hear was Haggar's raspy laughs. 

_"Lance!"_

Suddenly with a crash of sound--the water, he realized dimly--arms were wrapping around his torso. He struggled, screaming out. 

"No! I won't go back, you'll have to kill me!" he shrieked, his voice tearing through his sore throat. 

"Lance, focus, you can turn them off, just calm down!" the person holding him said. 

He stopped thrashing, trying to listen to the voice. It sounded like... 

"Sh-Shiro?" Lance asked. 

Shiro had finally managed to pull them back to the shallow end of the pool. Lance's feet touched the floor, and he felt himself relax slightly. The water around them was bubbling, not quite boiling, but agitated by the energy of his legs glowing brightly under the surface. 

"Yes, Lance, it's me," Shiro said softly from behind his ear. His arms were still holding onto Lance tightly, as if afraid to let go. 

"How do I--how do I get them to turn off?" Lance asked, eyes filling with tears. Voices were fading to the back of his mind, still hissing and whispering that they owned him and would never let him go.

"Focus," Shiro said. His voice was deep and strong, and Lance felt safer. "They're part of _you_ now. They don't belong to Haggar anymore. Shake away her power that's trying to get to you. You're stronger than she is."

Lance took in some shaky breaths and coughed a little. He turned his head around, looking at Shiro's eyes. The cool gray of his eyes gave Lance something to focus on. The bad visions left his head, and he could focus on powering down his legs. The light faded, leaving only the peaceful blue lights in the pool. 

He sighed with relief, and turned his body around completely to lean in to hug Shiro. "Thank you," he gasped out. "How did you know I was here?" _How did you know to save me?_ he wanted to ask. 

"I thought I saw you in the training room, but you left before I could be sure. Then I asked Keith where I could find you. I guess I was just in time," Shiro said with a strained smile. 

It _was_ just in time. "Another minute, and I..." Lance said. He held a hand to his throat, and coughed again. 

He took in Shiro's appearance. He had jumped into the pool with no hesitation, wearing his tight black undershirt and jeans. He had thrown his belt, jacket, and shoes off, but that was all. 

They waded all the way out to the cold, dry air. Though Lance noticed with one of Shiro's arms still gently resting on his shoulder, it wasn't as cold as it could've been. 

His cheeks flushed at the thought, he was so silly to get flustered by his hero helping him. That's what heroes _do._

"How can I ever be a hero now?" Lance found himself asking out loud. He clamped his mouth shut, and hoped Shiro didn't notice. 

"What?" Shiro asked. 

"I..." Lance tried to explain. "I was thinking--you saved me, like a hero. I should be able to take care of myself. I want to save people, too. But how can I be a hero now? I'm--I'm broken." His throat was closing up at the realization. He put a hand back over his mouth. He had to stop talking. 

"Lance, you're a hero to me," Shiro said earnestly. "You managed to survive in that prison, facing things that are so terrible I can't even imagine getting through it. And you _still_ want to help others. You are a hero."

Lance looked at him, awestruck. The blue glow in the water cast delicate shapes across their skin, Shiro's eyes reflecting their light. He could only nod, words leaving him. It wasn't every day the leader you thought didn't notice you gave you compliments instead. 

Shiro's gently pulled Lance's hand away from where it still covered his mouth. 

"Er, we--I should go," Lance stammered. 

Shiro froze, and seemed to realize how close they had been for the last few moments. He stepped back quickly, splashing in the knee-high water on his way out. 

"Here are your clothes," Shiro said, handing Lance the bundle from the floor as he followed him out of the pool. 

Even though he was still wet, Lance pulled them back on so he didn't walk around the castle nearly naked. Shiro just carried his stuff in his hands. Due to the impulsiveness of his decision, Lance had no towel, and it was a long walk back to the rooms. His hair dripped water in his eyes, and he blinked.

Lance could feel the unspoken sentences in the air. Should they talk about his time as a prisoner? Would Shiro help him? Lance was never close enough to Shiro to know about what he went through before. Should he burden him with his own problems now?

No, Lance decided. He was going to get through this on his own. He was already making progress... well, trying to anyway. The near-drowning had just been a little setback, that's all. If Shiro could get through it on his own, then Lance could too. 

Shiro shifted the way he was carrying his clothes. "So, Lance, do you mind if I ask you why you were swimming? It didn't seem like you had had it planned out." He gestured vaguely to Lance’s wet hair and body.

Lance gave an embarrassed chuckle. "Yeah, no, I hadn't planned it. It just... sounded like a good idea at the time? I just wanted to stretch my muscles in a good way." 

"And then you activated your legs?" Shiro pressed gently. 

Lance winced. "Yeah, well, I just wanted to keep pushing myself to swim faster. They, uh, just kind of turned on with that thought. And then she--Haggar--she was in my head again, and..." 

And what? Then Shiro had saved him. He had been helpless. He kept his mouth shut. 

Shiro nodded, and hummed thoughtfully. "Well, at least for me, that only happened the first time I activated my arm after I escaped. It hasn't happened since. You should be fine now." 

Lance released a puff of air he hadn't realized he was holding in. If Shiro had been battling this _thing_ every time he fought, Lance would've felt horrible for him. "Thanks for letting me know," Lance said gratefully. They had finally reached the hallway with their bedrooms. 

Even though he trusted Shiro, he wasn't ready to try the legs again. He would do it later, somewhere safe. Just in case. 

"Are you feeling better?" Shiro asked him. 

"Yes!" he answered too quickly. "Yes, I've talked with Hunk a bit, and that helped a lot." 

"Good, I'm glad to hear it." 

They reached Lance’s door in the hall. Shiro's room was to the other end. Lance pointed his feet to his bedroom. 

"Thanks for being there for me, Shiro."

"Anytime," Shiro said, then his face flashed nervously. "Just maybe don't make it a habit?" he laughed. 

Lance smiled back and watched Shiro for a second before opening his door. 

He slid into his bedroom, and peeled off his wet clothes. He turned the shower water on hot, and jumped into the steam. He let the familiar smells of his shampoos and body washes to bring him back to a time before he had been a prisoner. 

Lance replayed everything that had happened with Shiro. He thought about how he had been too scared to even set foot in the training deck. He thought about walking back with Shiro as he towelled off and began applying his face washes. He thought about how Shiro had been reaching out to him, but also seemed reserved or holding back. He thought in circles, over and over.

He'd said too much. He hadn't said enough.


	6. Chapter 6

Hunk's food goo carbonara was the exact thing he needed now after a stressful morning. 

"Hunk, you beautiful land mermaid, this is the most delicious pasta I've ever encountered in all my years," Lance gushed. 

"Aw, Lance, it was nothing," Hunk said modestly. 

Pidge slurped up a noodle loudly, like a cartoon. "I'm so thankful you exist, Hunk," Pidge said. 

Team lunches were not as common an occurrence as team dinners, and so Lance was appreciative of everyone eating together. Keith was quiet and in thought, probably stuck on a question in his head, eating his pasta with intensity. Shiro was next to him, as relaxed as Lance was used to seeing him--which was not enough. He was probably thinking about the upcoming plans for the Voltron Coalition. 

Allura and Coran were discussing a story that the Paladins didn't have enough context for, and so didn't really feel like paying attention to much today. He and Pidge whispered jokes back and forth, giggling like siblings. Keith smiled over at Hunk, who was tinkering with a little automated mouse-petter next to his already empty plate. Shiro gave Lance a soft look when he glanced over at him. 

Lance loved being home. He loved his space family. 

He felt a couple questions on the tip of his tongue, though. What all had happened while he was gone? How was Blue doing, did she still need repairs? Was Kaltenecker still being automatically taken care of in the Castle stable? 

But after Pidge did something goofy to make Keith laugh, Lance felt himself smiling, and decided to wait on questions for a little bit. 

"So, Paladins," Allura said, drawing their attention with her commanding voice. They were mostly done eating, except for Pidge, who ate like a bird at a slow and inconsistent rate. "In light of today's schedule being loose, you can pick what training we engage in this afternoon."

"Is sleeping training?" Pidge asked under her breath, making Lance laugh. 

"I got shocked in invisible maze training the other day about twenty times, so my vote is not that," Keith grumbled. 

"Sorry again, Keith," Hunk said with an apologetic smile. "Maybe the mind melds? We haven't done those in a while."

Lance looked up from his food, alarmed at the idea. "How about flying exercises? I miss Blue," he hurried to suggest. 

"Flying sounds like a great idea," Shiro agreed. Lance shot him a thankful look. 

"Alright, then, suit up and get to your Lions!" Allura said. 

Lance glanced nervously at Allura as the other Paladins ran to their hangars. "Is my suit...?" he trailed off, hoping she understood. 

"In the usual spot, Lance. Good as new," Allura assured him. She gave him a supportive smile. He nodded, grateful. “I’m glad you’re back and ready to train, Lance,” she added quickly. He could tell by her expression that she meant a bit more than just training. 

After only a pause, Lance ran forward and wrapped his arms around Allura. “Thanks, Allura,” he said quickly. He left before she could say anything more, but she gave him another smile.

He ran to the glass case where is suit was stored. It was nice to see it whole and clean again. The white armor gleamed. He slipped it on, and paused, staring at his boots. Wear them over the legs, or ignore them? He tapped his metallic toes in anxious thought. He decided to pull on the boots, feeling them adjust perfectly as they had before. It was a weird feeling to have fabric and metal on a partially-sensitive limb. 

He hurried to the zip-line track to his Lion. It was weird to be doing something that was so familiar and routine for him after so long. Like seeing an old friend. He couldn't help the smile on his face as he felt the air rush past him. He gave a light laugh. 

When Lance finally took his seat in Blue's pilot chair, he felt heat prick his eyes. He nudged his thoughts out to her. 

_I missed you, beautiful._

She rumbled happily. 

He wasn't sure how the team had rescued her. He also wasn't sure how they repaired her, or how badly she had been damaged. A lot of the details were hard to ask about, and he wasn't sure if he wanted all the answered just yet. He already felt better, and the most important thing was that Blue was here for him, and happy and whole. 

They moved together out of the hangar and into Arus' sky. Allura had told him that they had landed here to recover, making it a more stable home base in between the missions. It had been hard, without all the Paladins. They had needed to be more careful. She had yet to explain what else had happened while he was gone, though. 

Lance winced, and focused on flying instead. 

 

Shiro paused, gripping the control's tightly in his hands. He heard the material creak in his right hand, and unclenched so he wouldn't accidentally break anything. 

He couldn't explain exactly what he was afraid of. It might be that the last time all of them had been flying together, Lance had gotten captured. Or that the last time he had been in Black, he was supporting Lance's weak body in his arms. 

Maybe he was still shaken from how scared Lance had been this morning. Or that he kept wondering what would have happened if he hadn't gone looking for him. 

"Alright, team," Shiro said, shaking his thoughts away like cobwebs. "Let's head over to the desert mountains and practice our tight terrain flying style. We need to be able to stay close in tough conditions."

"You'll never know when you end up somewhere like Thayserix again," Keith added. 

The team shuddered at the thought, and Shiro was sad that they had gone through that. _Yet another time I failed the team,_ his mind added unhelpfully. This wasn’t a very good day for him. Usually he could ignore his self-doubts when he was leading the team. 

They approached the mountain range. The Arusians had told them these were some of the tallest peaks on the planet, and home to many interesting species. Strange birds glided alongside them. As they flew and steadily began climbing in altitude, they noticed the snow begun to fall in large clumps. The lush greenery of the usual Arusian landscape was becoming stark contrasts between whites and blacks and the grays in between. Shiro had always enjoyed the mountains, and felt relaxed by the view. 

“Wow, I’ve seen some snow before,” Lance whistled, “but this is a whole different level. It’s so… big and fluffy, it fills the whole sky.” 

The wondrous tone in his voice made Shiro pause and quickly glance at the screen. Lance’s eyes were taking in the scene, and his awed expression tugged at something in Shiro’s chest. He cleared his throat and tried to focus. 

“Alright guys, let’s try something interesting. Everyone turn off your communication, and let’s try to reach out with our Lions,” Shiro said. 

“Whoa, wait a tick, is that something we can do?” Lance burst out. 

“Pretty cool, right?” Keith said, almost smug. 

“It was one of the ways we were able to figure out that your Lion’s signal was being jammed before,” Hunk explained. “We tested it out, and if you focus enough, the Lions can communicate some pretty far distances on their own.”

“Wow, what else did you guys learn?” Lance asked. 

Shiro’s hands tensed again as the five of them soared around a sharp peak. He flicked his communications off, not wanting to continue talking. 

_We learned that we’re not nearly the same team without you,_ his mind traitorously added. _I learned how much you mean to me._

Shiro closed his eyes and focused. He felt flickers of light flash over his vision. Red first, like a spark. He gave a soft smile, glad to feel Red and Keith’s presence. 

Little flecks of green, yellow, and finally blue added on. His Lion lead them for a moment, before allowing Shiro to see through her eyes. 

_Turn left_ , he and Black rumbled to the other Paladins and their Lions. 

As a group, they flew under a gaping underhang. They wove in and around the giant mountains, staying together.

Blue started to fall behind a bit. Black could feel her disorientation. Shiro slowed down. 

For a moment Blue caught up with a burst of speed and clarity, before sagging down once more. She made a rough landing on a nearby ledge. 

Shiro pulled Black around and the other Lions followed quickly. Shiro opened his eyes and flicked on his coms as he landed near Lance and Blue. 

“Is everything alright?” Shiro asked. 

Lance gave a quick nervous laugh. “Yeah, yes, it’s all fine, sorry guys. It’s been a while for me and Blue.” He laughed again, sharp and uncomfortable. 

Shiro furrowed his brows. He nodded. “Okay, I think that was very good, Team. Especially you, Lance, that was really great for your first time.”

The Team chimed in quickly, agreeing. “That was actually really fun,” Pidge said with one of her cat-curled grins. 

They made their way back to the Castle, Hunk and Keith getting wrapped up in a debate over whether or not the Lions can actually see. 

“That doesn’t make any sense, why would robots be able to see like us? They receive the light and have processors, but that’s it. When we see through their ‘eyes’--” Keith tried to say. 

“Yeah, yeah, it’s ‘just our brains processing the light they receive’, yes, I know,” Hunk interrupted, imitating Keith’s deep voice surprisingly well. “But what do you think those Lion processors are doing? It’s in the name, I think it means they have a similar system in their brains like us!”

They continued back and forth the whole way. Shiro smiled to himself, it was nice to see how much Keith had opened up to their friends. 

Once they reached the Castle, Coran insisted they hurry and clean up for dinner, they had spent several dobaches out flying and he and Allura were starving. The mice also nodded furiously in agreement.

The water dripped down his arms as Shiro stood in his shower. Using showers to wash away the day didn’t seem as effective as it used to. Maybe he needed to turn the heat up again. 

He towelled off and dressed comfortably in his short-sleeved shirt and the black pajama pants from the drawer beside his bed. 

When Shiro walked into the dining hall, his team gaped at him with surprised expressions. 

“Don’t move, guys, something’s not right here,” Hunk said in a mock serious tone. 

“That’s not our Shiro! He must be an evil clone, the real Shiro would never relax!” Pidge yelled. 

Keith looked him over, and shrugged.

Lance cocked his head to the side, giving Shiro a knowing look and a smirk. “They fit perfectly, don’t they?” 

“You all are acting like I’m never in comfy clothes,” Shiro said. 

“I haven’t seen you look anything but ready to go on missions since the Garrison, and it was an accident,” Keith said pointedly. 

“I still can’t believe I went to that final in my pajamas on accident,” Shiro muttered to himself. _I blame Matt._

“Do we need to remind you that we’re starving, Paladins?” Coran complained loudly. 

“Alright, alright,” Lance said with a waving motion, “We’re coming.”

Dinner was tense for the first time since Lance returned. Shiro shifted in his seat as he lifted another sporkful to his mouth. He couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Everyone was just talking a few ticks ago. 

He glanced over at Keith to see if he noticed, but Keith was staring intently at his plate, concentrating. He looked to Hunk, but Hunk almost looked nauseous, casting his eyes across the room. Pidge was staring at the table. 

The first one to meet his gaze was Allura. He looked at her and raised his eyebrows questioningly, hoping she would understand. She looked back at him helplessly.

The silence stretched on for another moment before he couldn’t handle it. 

“So, did everyone feel okay with training today?” he asked, cringing at the tone of his voice. It sounded so forced. 

“I guess,” Keith said. 

“Iㅡ” Pidge started. 

Lance suddenly stood from the table, face tight. “Excuse me, guys, I have toㅡI have to go do something.”

Without waiting for a response, Lance turned on his heels and fled from the room. 

Shiro didn’t understand why, but the tension in the room eased, even as the people remaining in it shared concerned looks with each other. 

“Is Lance alright?” Coran asked. 

Shiro bit his lipㅡa habit he tried to hide in front of the Paladins. “I don’t know. I thought he was feeling better.” He swallowed. “Was it something I said?” he asked, worried. 

Pidge and Keith looked at each other with worry. “Shiro, of course not,” Hunk said. 

Allura put a hand on her chin. “Could someone go talk to him?”

“I’ll go,” Shiro said, already getting to his feet. 

He walked to Lance’s room, heart in his throat.

 

Lance paced. He hurt. He doubled over, his breath coming irregularly. 

_This is so stupid. Justㅡjust stop!_

He dropped to the ground. He curled in on himself on the floor. 

The dark swirls in his head were getting denser. They started whispering to him when he was concentrating while flying with Blue. His eyes filled with tears. 

In a never-ending loop, his mind kept begging for an answer to the question, _What am I going to do?_

A knock startled him. 

“Please, I’m sorry, I just would like to be alone right now,” he said, barely loud enough to be heard through the door. 

“Are you sure, Lance?”

It was Shiro. Lance covered his mouth and took a deep, steadying breath through his nose, air whistling past his fingertips. 

“Give me a minute?” he asked. 

“Sure,” Shiro replied. 

Lance focused, thinking about his team and everyone he cared about. He should talk to them about this, about the dark haze. They would help him. They would support him. 

His mind felt a little clearer as he stood and opened the door. 

Shiro straightened up from his position of leaning against the door frame. “Hey, Lance,” he said carefully. 

“Hey, Shiro,” Lance said. 

They stood for a second, the silence stretching. It felt like they were both holding their breath. 

“I’m sorry forㅡ” Lance began to apologize. 

“I just wanted toㅡ” Shiro started at the same time. 

They laughed shyly at each other. “You first,” Shiro said. 

“I’m sorry for how training went today,” Lance said, casting his eyes away from Shiro. 

“What? What do you mean? Training went fine.” Shiro shifted his weight to his other foot, looking confused. 

“No, I couldn’t keep up with you guys,” Lance explained. “I...something...um...” he trailed off. He couldn’t explain this to Shiro, what was he thinking? Someone else, he would have to tell someone else about it.   
“Lance, it was your first day back after a really hard time. You did amazing, really,” Shiro insisted. 

Lance looked at Shiro and swallowed, giving him a smile. “Thanks, Shiro.” 

_Tell him, tell him, tell him,_ a small voice in the back of his mind was whispering. It was drowned out by the louder voice shouting, No! Don’t tell Shiro!

_Invite him into your room. Show him you’re okay,_ that part of his mind suggested. 

“What is it you were going to say? Do you want to come in?” Lance asked, gesturing Shiro inside his room. 

Shiro’s lowered his gaze and for a moment the shadow across his face made it look as though he was blushing. “Yeah, sure.” 

They went into the room and Lance sat on his bed. He patted the fabric next to him. Shiro sat down next to him, back straight and tense. 

“I was going to say, I’m a bit worried that you might not be adjusting to being back yet,” he said carefully. 

“As I recall it, you weren’t peachy right after we rescued you, either,” Lance said dryly. 

“I don’tㅡthis isn’t about comparing the two of us, Lance,” Shiro insisted. “I just mean, I’m worried about you. Running out of dinner like that isn’t really like you.” 

Lance swallowed. It was so tempting to tell Shiro about the whispers in his head. “I know, and I agree, I’m not at one hundred percent yet. I just need a bit more time. Is that okay? Should Allura fill in for me again?”

Shiro winced. “No, you’re alright. Allura has her own role right now. We want you as the Blue Paladin, Lance, that’s who you are.”

_Little Paladin,_ Haggar’s voice laughed in his head. He suddenly felt like he was going to throw up. 

“Lance? What’s wrong?”

His feet were already whisking him away to the bathroom. He emptied his stomach, tears filling his eyes. He hated this. 

Shiro was kneeling next to him, rubbing circles into his back. Lance choked out a sob and spat into the dirty water. He flushed and cleaned himself off in the sink.

“Shiro, you don’t have to take care of me,” Lance said, voice raspy. 

Shiro raised an eyebrow. 

“I can handle this,” Lance snapped. 

“I’m not leaving until you tell me what’s going on.”

Lance rolled his eyes and plopped down on his bed again. He felt so tired now. As Shiro sat down beside him, a small part of Lance’s willpower crumbled away. 

With blackness curling in the corners of his mind, he heard himself say, “Can you lay beside me, Shiro?”

“Lance, I…” Shiro said. Lance noticed how red his face grew. 

“Justㅡfor a minute? I don’t feel very good,” he said honestly. “I just trust you a lot.” 

Shiro nodded, posture tense. Lance relaxed in his bed, and Shiro waiting for a moment before sliding in between Lance and the wall. He kept his back straight in a half-sitting position. 

Lance sighed, feeling a bit more content to have Shiro beside him. “Thank you.” 

“If it helps,” Shiro said softly. 

Lance closed his eyes. “It does.” 

For a moment, they were quiet together. 

“Lance?” Shiro said, clearing his throat. 

“Yeah?” 

“Do youㅡthis’ll sound crazy, I knowㅡbut do you _feel_ something? Like, something bad?” Shiro asked. 

_He knows?_ “I don’t know what you mean,” Lance heard himself say. 

Shiro took a deep breath. “Do you still feel some of that darkness that you felt before?” 

Lance swallowed. The quiet stretched on for a moment. 

“Lance?”

His eyes filled with tears. He turned his head away from Shiro. “Something inside me is telling me not to talk to you about it,” he confessed. 

“Lance,” Shiro said, his voice full of hurt and worry. “Lance, what’s wrong? Please tell me.”

“Haggar,” Lance choked out, putting a hand up to his throat. “She’s…” 

Shiro’s arms wrapped around him, pulling Lance up so his head was on his chest. He held him tight. 

“You have to shake her off. You can’t just ignore her,” Shiro said quietly. “ _Please,_ Lance.” 

“There’s black clouds.” Lance couldn’t help crying. His voice came out thick. “They filled my mind when we were flying with Blue. They blocked my connection to her. If I lose Blue, I lose another part of myself. I won’t be as strong to fight her. I can’t… this is too much.” 

Shiro rubbed a hand up and down Lance’s back, murmuring to him. “It’s okay, we’ll figure it out.” 

“Shiro, I...” Lance choked out. He couldn’t finish the sentence.

In response, he just nodded and held Lance tighter, whispering to him that everything would be okay.


	7. Chapter 7

Haggar laughed. Her voice was high and piercing, reaching out to her nearby druids. She summoned them to her, in the center of their formation. 

“The Champion knows something is wrong with our Little Paladin,” she said with a smile, “but in trying to help him, he only gets pulled deeper in as well.”

“So your power in the boy’s legs are strong enough to imbue your will into the Champion’s arm?” a druid hissed to her. 

“Slowly,” she rasped. “The closer the two of them are, the more their quintessences align, and the more easily my influence will spread.” 

“I see. There’s nothing they can do to stop it?”

Haggar gave her druid a level stare. “Nothing. By capturing one Paladin, I will soon enough have two. And then Voltron will fall to us.” 

She knew in the back of her mind that should the Blue Paladin be able to shake her, things could fall through. But she knew how much she had him broken before he was rescued. With two limbs filled with her essence, he was going to have a much more difficult time fighting her. 

Her laughter rang out again in the large hall. 

 

Lance looked for a long time in the mirror. 

His neck was scarred with webbing, pink scars around his collarbones. Turning around, he could see the vague shape of the big scar on his back from the explosion when he protected Coran. Where his thighs met his artificial legs, there were gnarled red lines. There were other scars now, too, all along his body that he didn’t remember how he received. 

His eyes looked tired, with dark circles under them. He hadn’t put on his face mask in a few days. His skin looked dim and grayed out, devoid of its previous radiance. 

His hair was longer, starting to curl up where it met the top of his shoulders. Trying to be careful, he held the scissors up, humming while he decided on a good place to start. He began snipping away the locks, trying to cut it back to his usual style. 

“Beautiful,” he said when he was finished, but his expression and tone were devoid of any excitement. 

 

Shiro paced. 

He didn’t know what to do. Lance was still feeling Haggar’s pull. Was it because he had two limbs instead of just one? Was it because he wasn’t strong enough to fight her?

_Don’t think like that_ , he chided himself. _You know Lance is strong enough._

So what was going on with him? It had been a few weeks now, obviously Shiro wasn’t expecting Lance to be perfectly fine. But he had been skipping meals and looked ragged and tired. 

_Should I talk to him again?_

Shiro was worried. Every time he had tried to help Lance, he felt like he’d only made things worse. Lance was just looking rougher every day. 

Shiro had asked the team about how much they’ve talked to him, but they’ve said that he just insisted that he was fine. 

He needed to do something. He couldn’t just keep pacing in his room. 

He hurried out into the hallway. 

Coran was cleaning the healing pods when Shiro finally found him. He was chatting idly with the mice, seeming to be arguing with them. Shiro gave a small smile. 

“Now, I don’t very much like your tone,” Coran said, his face growing red. 

The mice unabashedly stared him down. 

Shiro cleared his throat. “Um, Coran, are you busy?” 

“No, the mice were just leaving,” he answered, glaring at their little faces. “What do you need Shiro?” He stood up straight and looked toward him. 

“I need to ask you about Lance.”

“Ah…” Coran sighed, face instantly gaining more lines, making him look older. Tired. “The boy isn’t doing very well lately.” 

“No, he’s not,” Shiro agreed sadly. “He told me… he told me he still feels Haggar’s influence in his legs. He hasn’t powered them up since the first time after he was rescued. I’m worried he’s avoiding shaking her off out of fear that he can’t do it. Or something is going on here that we don’t understand.” 

That was a lot for Shiro to release at once. He didn’t even know he was going to say all of that. 

Coran looked at him. “I’ve tried talking to him, and he didn’t say anything like that to me. He just said he wants to go home.” 

Shiro’s heart broke a little. “Coran, can we try healing him again, with the legs on this time? Maybe that would help?” 

Coran put a gloved hand to his chin. “It certainly couldn’t hurt to try.”

 

“I’ve told you guys, I’m fine!” Lance protested stubbornly.

His body felt heavy. He just wanted to curl up and try to sleep somewhere, but his nightmares were getting worse. But he tried to ignore that in favor of proving to his friends that he was okay. 

“Then what would it hurt to prove us wrong?” Hunk said. 

“Let’s go,” Pidge said. 

Keith gripped Lance’s wrist and dragged him along the hallway. “You’re gonna get better, Lance. You aren’t fine.” 

Lance sighed loudly, their combined noise echoing in the long hallway to the healing pods.

When they opened the doors, Allura, Coran, and Shiro were waiting for them. At Shiro’s worried gaze, Lance looked guiltily to the floor. 

“Fine,” he snapped, pulling his hand out of Keith’s grip. “I’m going. I just think our time would be better spent training.”

“Yeah, you’ve said that already,” Keith grumbled. 

“Lance,” Allura said as they approached. “You haven’t been looking yourself lately. We were hoping you wouldn’t mind us running some scans on you. Shiro has told us that you still feel Ha--”

“Wait, what?” Lance shrieked, looking at Shiro. “You _told_ them?” 

“I had to, Lance,” Shiro said, in a tone that squeezed Lance’s heart. 

“No, you didn’t. I’m fine. I’m getting control of it. Here. Watch.” 

He focused, keeping his gaze level with Shiro. He activated his legs, and they hummed to life. 

The curling blackness wisped around their form. But he knew how to handle it. He just had to control his thoughts, and he could control Haggar’s magic. 

“Lance…” Pidge gasped. 

“See?” he said, voice cracking. “Look.” 

He stepped back out of their reach, and then jumped. He flew up a few feet in the air, and then extended his legs out into a kick as he landed. He flipped backwards now, and felt his legs heating the air around him. 

_Very good, Little Paladin, show them your strength…_ the darkness praised. He ignored it.

Lance took a shaking breath in. He concentrated, turning his legs off. It took him longer than usual, the power resisting him for a moment. He saw Shiro looking at him, his eyes unfocused, like he was listening to something no one else could hear.

When they finally stopped glowing, he lost his balance, falling to the ground with a groan. His team all jerked forward to catch him, but weren’t quite fast enough. 

“I’m just—a little tired,” he tried to insist, groaning. 

“Lance, you’re hurting yourself,” Hunk said, voice wavering with tears. 

“Please, stop this,” Pidge begged. 

“We can’t stand seeing you like this,” Keith whispered. 

Lance’s eyes were so heavy. As strong hands supported him, lifting him up, he stopped fighting. 

“It’s going to be okay,” Shiro murmured into his ear. 

Lance nodded, blinking slowly. He was so tired of fighting. He stepped into the healing pod. 

 

Shiro was pacing, but what was new? 

“Oh,” Allura gasped softly. 

“Oh, dear,” Coran said with her. 

“What is it, what’s wrong?” Shiro was at their side in an instant. The team nearby looked to them with worry. 

Lance’s bio-scans displayed large glowing portions of purple dots, making their way up his body from his legs. His head was filled with darkness. Shiro sucked in air sharply through his teeth. 

“It looks similar to the energy that was able to infect the castle,” Allura said slowly. 

“It’s definitely Haggar’s doing,” Coran added. “It must be some sort of infectious quintessence.” 

“How do we get rid of it?” Pidge asked. 

Hunk’s eyes were wide and wet as he stared at the screen. “Is it...is it hurting him?” 

Keith stormed out of the room. “I’m going to go train. I’m going to kill Haggar.” 

The doors closed with a loud clang in the silence and Shiro winced. 

When Lance had been flipping in the air, Shiro could’ve sworn he heard a voice laughing, high and delighted. He thought he had heard the words, _”Champion… It’s nice to see you again._ ”

“Princess,” Shiro begged, shaking away the thoughts, “can we go after Haggar? Maybe if we stop her, Lance will be okay.” 

Allura hummed thoughtfully. “Shiro, can we scan your body first? I’m curious as to how much of this poison you have in yourself as well.” 

Shiro was itching to leave, to fight, to help Lance. “Only if it’s necessary,” he said through gritted teeth. “Don’t let Keith go fight alone while I’m gone?” he tried to joke.

“Don’t worry, I’ll go talk to him,” Hunk said, voice thick. Pidge followed him out the door. 

Allura and Coran looked to Shiro with worried expressions.

He gave one last glance to Lance’s unconscious face before stepping into a pod himself.


	8. Chapter 8

“Takashi! Takashi, come inside this instant!”

_Mom?_

“Did you break this?” 

Shiro blinked, his parents were standing in front of him. He wasn’t a small child hiding from punishment, but a soldier, a Paladin of Voltron. He stood in a hallway of the Castle of Lions, lights flickering a harsh pale color instead of the warm yellow light of his memories. 

“Mom? Dad? What’s going on?” he asked desperately. 

“Did you break this?” they repeated. Their faces were faded, blurred by time. 

But Shiro knew they were looking down at the floor, at the broken object between them. 

A Paladin helmet, colored blue, the visor shattered and the ceramic plating outside cracked. 

“No—” Shiro choked out. “I didn’t—”

“Are you sure?” his parents asked, but they were gone from the hallway now. 

_Oh, god, oh god, oh god._ He knew it was a nightmare now, but he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t wake himself up. He was trapped, staring down at the broken helmet at his feet. He couldn’t leave. 

“Are you sure this isn’t your doing, Champion?” Haggar’s voice filled his senses, and everything went black. 

He fell, gasping for air out of the cryopod. 

“Lance!” 

Allura and Coran were beside him, trying to support and calm him. He blinked desperately, trying to focus his eyes away from his dreams. 

“Lance?” he asked them. 

Allura and Coran looked at each other, and then stepped backward. Lance stood a few feet away behind where they had been standing, looking at Shiro with his eyebrows furrowed. 

“Shiro, I’m sorry I’ve been— _oof!_ ” 

Shiro ran over to Lance and pulled him into a hug, cutting him off mid-sentence. “Lance,” he murmured, pulling him tighter. “I’m so glad you’re alright. I’m so sorry.” 

“What’s the matter?” Lance asked, slowly returning the hug.

Shiro shook his head. “I let all this happen to you. I should’ve helped you sooner.” 

They broke apart, looking each other over. Shiro couldn’t help himself as he reached out to brush a stray lock of hair out of Lance’s eyes. Lance blinked widely, astonished. 

“Ahem,” Coran cleared his throat politely. 

“I’m sorry. What did you guys find?” Shiro asked, walking towards them. 

“It seems that there is indeed Haggar’s influence present in Lance’s legs, as well as your arm. It seems that even if we removed the limbs now, their composition is so tightly linked to your nervous systems that the damage is already done.” Allura pointed to the way the purple lights on the screen seemed to leak out into Lance’s body. “Lance has seen more effects because he has two infected limbs. It seems that the witch wanted to be more direct with him after you broke free of her control, Shiro.” 

Shiro grimaced. Lance absentmindedly rubbed at his throat. 

“She did say I was supposed to be even stronger than the Champion,” Lance added quietly. “There is—there is one thing I haven’t told you guys yet.” 

“What is it, Lance?” Coran asked. 

“Promise not to tell the others?” he asked nervously. 

“We promise,” Allura said solemnly. 

“When I was captured, after they put these legs on me, I surrendered to Haggar’s control.” Lance kept his eyes meeting theirs, but his expression was full of shame and guilt. “She had me fight for her, against robeasts that she kept creating. Once she was sure I was her… I was her Little Paladin—” he choked out the name, “—she had me fight against training robots, like we have in the Castle.” 

“Lance…” Shiro said softly, his heart breaking. 

“They were… painted,” he confessed. 

“Painted… what, my boy?” Coran asked carefully. 

Lance bit his lip. “They were red, yellow, green—” he sobbed, “—and black. She made me fight until I defeated them. I didn’t even recognize my friends in them, I was so gone. If Blue hadn’t saved me, if she hadn’t shaken off Haggar’s magic—” 

“Don’t worry about that, right now, Lance,” Allura interrupted. “You’re alright now. We’re going to figure this out. We won’t let her control you.” 

He covered his mouth, trying to bury his sobs in his hand. Shiro’s own tears were falling and he couldn’t stop them. He reached out to Lance’s other hand, grabbing it tightly. 

“If we set up a plan to confront her, we aren’t sure what will happen to your prosthetics,” Coran admitted. “They could stop functioning completely. They could work just the same. We don’t know.” 

Shiro looked to Lance’s face, with deep bruises under his eyes. “We have to try anyway.”

The med bay doors opened and Pidge, Hunk, and Keith hurried in. 

“Are they both awake?” Hunk asked as he entered. 

“Yeah,” Pidge said. 

“What did you learn?” Keith asked. 

For some reason, seeing his friends invoked something in Shiro that he usually didn’t act on. But this time he did. 

He went forward and pulled the three of them into a hug. 

“Um,” Hunk said, confused. 

“Shiro?” Keith asked.

Shiro pulled back. “I’m glad you all are okay.”

The three of them blinked, looking bewildered at each other and then back to Shiro. 

Lance walked forward and leaned an arm on Hunk’s shoulders in a casual way that he hadn’t in a very long time. “How do you guys feel about killing a witch?” 

 

“I think I’ve finally figured it out,” Pidge declared triumphantly. 

“Tell me, tell me.” Hunk moved in curiously beside her, staring at her massive set up in the data room. 

“I’ve recalibrated my Galra prediction algorithm to predict within a statistically acceptable margin of error where Haggar will be in the galaxy based on our previous encounters and recordings we have of her magic and activity in the past,” Pidge said smugly. 

“You’re amazing, Pidge,” Keith said fondly. 

The three of them had been cooped up in the data room for hours while Pidge completed her project. Hunk had been helping her, then running errands for snacks, and then laying on the couch with an Altean tablet looking for information on infectious quintessence. Keith had tried helping, was told he is not good at helping, and so idly did push-ups, squats, cleaned his knife, and paced while the other two worked. 

“Do you think this’ll be enough?” Pidge asked quietly after a moment. 

“What do you mean?” Hunk asked, looking down at her, eyebrows pulled together in concern. 

“Lance and Shiro have been hurting for so long,” Pidge said softly. “Is taking out Haggar even going to help?”

“I can’t promise that they will feel better overnight,” Keith said, "but, I can say it probably won’t make them feel worse.” He pulled up his knife again, inspecting the edge. “And I know it will definitely make _me_ feel better.”

“We’ve been too scared up until now to confront Haggar,” Hunk admitted. “We should’ve done this months ago. She’s hurt entire planets along with Lance and Shiro. My biggest fear is that we’re too late to undo most of her damage.”

They fell into a tense silent for a moment after that. Pidge continued putting together footage they had of Haggar’s fighting style into an algorithm to help the Paladins have a prediction for where she would strike during an attack. It may not be as comforting as knowing for certain they could stop her, but it gave them a place to start. 

While that ran, Pidge moved to the couch to work on uploading it to the Paladin suits. Hunk and Keith joined her there. After a few more hours, they eventually found themselves falling asleep together, Keith and Hunk’s heads dipping against Pidge’s shoulders. 

 

Pink lightening struck out again, disabling the training bot in an instant. Allura wiped the sweat from her brow. 

“Here, Princess.” Coran extended a drink pouch out to her. 

“Thanks, Coran,” she panted, out of breath. She sipped at the tangy drink.

“Are you going to be alright, Princess?” Coran asked after a pause. 

“As long as we can help Shiro and Lance, I’m fine,” she insisted. 

Her advisor looked away nervously. “I’m just worried. I’m afraid we’ll lose the Team to Haggar.”

“Stop worrying, it doesn’t help us,” Allura said gently. 

“It’s my job to worry, Princess.”

She put a hand on his shoulder in appreciation. “I’ll be stronger than her. We will defeat her. We will save Lance and Shiro from her poison.”

She straightened her back and motioned for another combat robot to appear. 

 

Strong hands held his, and Lance tried to take a deep breath. 

“I know it’s hard,” Shiro murmured to him, “but try again. The better we understand what happened to you—to both of us—the more effectively we can stop it.” 

They were sitting together on the floor of the control room, the distant stars and bright clusters of galaxies passing by in the big windows. They had the mind-meld devices on, and were trying to go through Lance’s memories together to find how Haggar controlled him when he was imprisoned. 

A picture of the giant bird beast he’d killed flashed in his mind, and Lance grimaced, recoiling away. 

“Relax, Lance,” Shiro urged, not for the first time. “I’m here.” 

Even though his eyes were closed, Lance could tell that Shiro was giving him one of those earnest expressions that made Lance feel warm inside. 

The memories trickled through. It felt like trying to catch smoke. They would see a glimpse of the Druids and Haggar in a circle around Lance, imbuing him with their terrible energies. But then it would slip away without any helpful details. 

An image of him defeating the robots painted like the Paladins appeared, and Lance felt nauseous. 

“I’m here.”

Lance instinctively tried to pull away from the mental tug of the mind-device. A picture of his mom’s face filled his vision, her eyes as bright as his Blue Lion. 

“I wish none of this had happened,” Lance whispered aloud. 

“I know, Lance,” Shiro said softly. “I know.” 

His grip on Lance’s hands tightened, and he gladly gave him a little squeeze back. 

Suddenly, his mind was filled with a realization that he should’ve acknowledged a long time ago. Images ran together, almost in a blur: when Shiro had saved him from Haggar, Shiro helping him after the crystal explosion, the first time they met in person in Keith’s little shack, a starry night sky over the ocean view from his hometown—

_I love you, Shiro._

Lance jerked backwards, ripping his hands out of Shiro’s. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, that—I didn’t mean—that wasn’t supposed to happen, I—” he stammered, his face going bright red as he tore the device off his head. He couldn’t meet his eyes. 

“Lance.” 

Shiro grabbed his arm, holding him steady, keeping him from throwing himself into the nearest star. Without saying anything, Shiro reached for the mind-meld device and placed it carefully back on Lance’s head. 

Lance stared at Shiro in awe as he closed his eyes. Images began filling the back of Lance’s mind. 

Lance extending his hand to Shiro’s when they met, Lance regaining consciousness to shoot Sendak before collapsing again, Lance encouraging the team, Lance getting captured by the dragon beast, long nights of Shiro lying awake—terrified of losing Lance, Shiro realizing how much he cared for Lance. 

_I love you, too._

Shiro opened his eyes, looking nervously at Lance, biting his lip to hide a big goofy grin. He shyly tugged the device off his hair, messing up his white locks a little. 

“Shiro…” Lance said, blinking, full of shock. 

“You don’t have to say anything right now,” Shiro said quickly. “It’s alright, we have a lot going on.”

Lance nodded mutely. 

“How about we take a break for some sleep? It’s late,” Shiro said. 

Lance nodded again, not trusting himself to speak. 

They made their way to the living quarters of the castle. Lance grabbed Shiro’s hand as they approached his room. He gave him a questioning look. 

_Say something, idiot,_ he scolded himself. But he couldn’t. He felt like if he spoke he could ruin everything. 

But Shiro understood, and Lance loved him even more for it. 

“Could I sleep with you tonight?” he asked Lance gently. 

Finally, Lance could get a few words out. “Yes, please.” 

They curled up together on Lance’s narrow bed, holding onto each other tightly. When they finally fell asleep, they held together tightly as the nightmares ravaged their dreams, and Haggar’s laughter pealed out in their minds.


	9. Chapter 9

“Paladins,” Allura’s voice spoke over the coms, “we’ve located the ship Haggar is on. Suit up and report to the control bridge.”

Lance struggled to open his eyes, but as soon as he did, a spiking headache pounded into him. He winced. 

“Ugh, my head,” Shiro groaned beside him, putting his metallic hand to his forehead as he sat up. 

“Mine, too,” Lance grimaced. 

“Really?” he asked, “Here, this helps me.” Shiro began rubbing his cool metal arm across his Lance’s forehead, and it did feel nicer. 

“Thank you, Shiro,” Lance said gratefully. 

They trudged together to their Paladin armor and suited up. Lance tried to ignore the headache as best he could, but he had a guess for what it meant. Dark clouds filled the edges of his thoughts. 

Shiro was sweating, and Lance figured he was feeling it too. 

In the control room, the rest of the Team was already gathered and ready. Allura had the star map up, with Haggar’s ship detailed nearby. 

“As we discussed before, we know Voltron will not be able to help us take her down,” Coran was saying. 

“She always just teleports away when Voltron is near,” Keith said, his face screwed up with disgust. 

“I will pilot the Blue Lion to lead Haggar astray,” Allura said. “Keith, you will need to pilot Black. Those are the roles the witch knows us to have.”

Keith shifted his feet uncomfortably, but nodded. 

“Shiro, you will sneak on with Pidge in Green who will be cloaked. Lance, you will go in Red, and her speed and agility should get you to the underside of the ship safely.” Allura looked to them, her face a mix of emotions. “Once you two are aboard the ship, then the rest of us will make ourselves known to make it appear as though this is a normal raid.”

“We’re going to try to go after her other Druids,” Hunk deduced. 

“Exactly, Number One,” Coran said. 

“What’s keeping Haggar from fleeing once we attack her Druids?” Pidge asked. 

“We’re going to go after her stores of quintessence,” Allura said, almost smugly. 

“She won’t let us take her quintessence, she’ll have to stay and fight us for it,” Lance figured it out aloud.  


“And if our readings are right, the untampered quintessence will be able to heal the two of you from the poisoned magic Haggar put on you,” Coran added. 

“We should all converge on her at the same time after defeating the Druids,” Shiro suggested. “There’s no way she’ll get past all of us.” 

“I’ve also uploaded a predictive algorithm into the Paladin armor that will pinpoint the likely places Haggar will try to transport herself to while we fight her,” Pidge said. “Use that so we don’t get taken by surprise if she tries to trick us.” 

“Number Five here has also provided a limited cloaking ability to the Castle, so I can be near for a quick extraction and wormhole jump,” Coran said, proudly messing up Pidge’s hair, who did not look happy about that. 

“We should have that witch defeated by the end of the quintant,” Allura stated. 

“God, I hope so,” Lance muttered quietly to himself. Shiro grabbed one of his hands. 

“We’ve got this guys. The most important thing is that we keep each other safe. Never go anywhere alone,” Shiro said. He paused, looking to Lance, and back to the others. “I—you guys mean the world to me, okay?” 

Keith looked to Shiro, his dark eyes filled with emotion. “Same for you, Shiro.” Pidge and Hunk nodded in agreement. 

“We’re all going to be fine. We have a plan. Don’t worry, Shiro,” Allura said confidently. 

Shiro nodded. “Then let’s go.” 

They dispersed to the Lions, Lance going to Red and Shiro tagging along with Pidge. Allura went to Blue, and Keith to Black. Coran guided the Castle into position. Everyone was ready. 

“Okay, we’re going. Give us a minute, and then the rest of you move in,” Shiro said. 

The Green Lion shot out of her bay, cloaking as she approached the giant Galra vessel. Shiro’s natural instinct when faced with getting close to any Galra ships was fear. But he shook it off. They had to do this. 

No reaction from the ship as they glided in and attacked on the underside to board the ship. Pidge and Shiro jetted out into space, and Shiro activated his arm to slice through the metal hull. When his arm lit up, his headache spiked. 

_”Where are you, Champion?"_ Haggar’s voice hissed in his head.  


Nervously, Shiro quickly pulled Pidge inside the ship and climbed in after. He replaced the metal he’d carved out, sealing it with the heat of his hand. Luckily, there were no sentries nearby at the moment. They were in a mechanical room, with great gears and computers turning and sparking around them. 

“We’re inside,” Shiro reported.

Lance felt his stomach drop even though that’s what he was supposed to want to hear. “Copy that,” Lance said instead. “Hunk, Keith, Allura, let’s go.” 

Yellow, Black, and Blue took off to the ship. Instantly, fighter drone ships were deployed, firing lasers at them. 

Lance took and breath, and shot out behind them in Red. Blue was still in the back of his head though, worried. _I’m worried too, girl._

Red easily ducked and weaved between the fighters. She quickly got Lance to the Galra ship, where the scanners showed Pidge and Shiro waiting for him. 

Lance tapped twice on the sealed slab that they had gone through before powering up his legs to kick it in. 

Thoughts that weren’t his own twisted in his head, and the urge to submit to Haggar squeeze his heart. But he reached out to Blue and she help him shake it off. 

“Are you safe Lance?” Allura asked. 

“Just about,” he grunted as he hauled himself inside. 

Shiro and Pidge were waiting, Shiro holding the metal back to the floor to seal their entrance again. 

The ship shook slightly, and Lance heard Red’s roar. It sounded like she rejoined the fight without a Paladin. He smiled fondly. 

Pidge was tapping into the control system from a computer in the mechanical room. A handful of sentries were limp on the floor with slices in their chests. 

“They tried to ambush us,” Shiro said with a smug smile. He turned to Pidge. “How close are you?” 

“Just a tick, and—there!” she said triumphantly. 

The door at the far end of the wall opened. “Let’s go!” she exclaimed as they ran out. 

They quickly tore through the few sentries that lined the hallway. They were no match for the three of them. 

The screen on Pidge’s wrist had a map of the ship, with predicted points of the Druid locations. Their goal was the quintessence storage chamber, and two Druids were between them and their destination. 

“We’ve boarded,” Hunk said into the coms. 

“I’ve sent you the Druid locations. We’ll meet you guys at the quintessence chamber in a few ticks,” Pidge answered. 

“Got it, good luck,” Keith said. 

They hurried around corners, stealth not as necessary as speed. It could be any minute that Haggar could pull a trick. They had to hurry.

Lance’s head was pounding. He felt sick, and it was hard to breathe, almost as if the clouds were in his stomach. He coughed weakly. 

“I think I feel it too,” Shiro panted beside him. He turned and pulled up his shield to block an incoming blast from a sentry, just as Pidge zapped it with her bayard. 

Pidge looked the two of them over, worried. “Are you two okay? I think...well, I think I can feel something bad radiating from you. It feels like the other day at dinner when you stormed out, Lance.” 

“Oh,” Lance said. “It’s that noticeable…?” 

“We need to hurry,” Shiro said simply. 

_Yes, please hurry to me, Little Paladin, my Champion…_ a voice purred in both of their heads. 

“She knows we’re here,” Lance gasped, filled with panic. 

A Druid was suddenly in front of them. Lance could stop his momentum in time, and the Druid kicked him squarely in the chest, sending him across the room. 

Pidge quickly shot her grapple out, tangling the Druid’s extended leg and shocking them. While they were stunned, Shiro lunged out with his arm. 

The Druid tried to teleport out of the way, but the predictive system pointed out exactly where they would end up. Lance had his rifle ready and pointed at the spot, shooting instantly. 

The Druid collapse into an empty pile of robes. 

“I thought we had some good times, Drew,” Lance spat, a bit of blood on his tongue. “But I guess not.”

“Lance, are you okay?” Shiro asked, rushing over to him and checking his body for injuries. 

“My pride hurts the most, okay? Let’s keep moving,” Lance urged.

They turned a few more corners to find an entire hallway full of soldiers and sentries. The three of them readied their weapons, and then jumped in. Lance _really_ jumped, throwing himself over three rows of enemies, landing down with a hard kick that caved in the metal of a robot. He shot to incapacitate the living soldiers, aiming for shoulders and legs. He’d had enough of killing for Haggar’s sake. 

The soldiers cried out and groaned as they were hit. Shiro sliced through metal, punched at chests, and ducked under laser blasts. 

Pidge wove in beneath them, tripping soldiers and shocking them before they could reach her. 

The three of them stood panting in the hallway full of downed soldiers and sentries. Lance shuddered on shaky limbs, leaning back heavily on the wall behind him. Using his legs made it worse. He felt like he might vomit. 

“C’mon, Lance, you can do this,” Shiro said, helping him stand fully. 

“It hurts,” he whined before he could stop himself. 

Pidge grabbed his other hand, looking at him with worry in her eyes. He nodded and followed them. 

The next Druid appeared in front of them, but they were prepared this time. They were almost to the quintessence. 

Lance powered on his legs, charging forward before he could stop himself. He ducked under the blast of magic that the Druid sent out, kicking low. The Druid teleported out of the way, but Shiro was ready with his hand. 

Moving much faster than the first Druid, they quickly blasted a dark ball of crackling energy at Shiro.  
He cried out, falling to the ground before he could strike. 

“Shiro!” Lance screamed. 

Pidge sliced at the Druid with her Bayard, and Lance shot it five times in quick succession. It fell to the floor in a heap of fabric. 

Lance ran over to Shiro, supporting him. “Can you stand?” Lance begged.

“Yeah, just stunned me is all,” Shiro coughed out. “I’m fine.” 

“We’re almost there, guys,” Pidge told them and also reported into the coms. 

“Same here,” Allura groaned, and blasts could be heard on their end of the coms. 

They limped over to the next hallway, Lance and Shiro following Pidge as she tracked the path with the map. They passed dim lights and dark metal features that made Lance feel like he was still a prisoner. He couldn't shake it. He was panicking. He hurriedly removed the lower part of his visor to throw up on the floor. 

“I’m sorry,” he gasped. 

“You’re alright. We’re going to fix this right now. Just a little longer,” Shiro murmured, rubbing Lance’s neck. 

They caught up to Pidge who was hiding at the corner to the large doorway. She gave them a sharp nodㅡthis was the room. They nodded back. Shiro took a deep breath, and charged in. 

“My beautiful little Paladins.”

Haggar stood in the center of the room, protecting the large machine that encased the containers of raw quintessence before changing it to fit her twisted desires. 

“We’re _not_ yours,” Pidge snapped defiantly. 

Haggar laughed, her sharp sounds resonating in Lance’s mind. “You will be. The Champion and the Blue Paladin have brought you all here to me.” 

“That’s enough!” Allura called out from the other side of the room. She, Hunk, and Keith charged in. 

A flash of fear filled Haggar’s face as Allura launched a ball of pink magic at the witch. It landed, singing the dark fabric of Haggar’s right shoulder. She hissed out in pain, and transported herself across the room. 

Hunk was waiting there, and blasted her squarely with his canon. She dodged it, but lost her footing as Keith slashed at her with his sword, moving faster than a blink. 

While they occupied Haggar, Pidge, Shiro, and Lance found a nearby container of quintessence on a floating cart. 

Haggar’s piercing eyes landed on Lance then, and she could see all the way into him. He nearly collapsed at the invasive feeling. 

In a cloud of smoke, Haggar materialized right in front of Lance and wrapped her clawed hand around his throat. 

“No!” he shrieked. “Helpㅡ _ack_!” She closed off the air to his body. She began shocking him with her magic, and he was powerless. His legs glowed brightly, but he couldn’t get the momentum to strike at her. His bayard was a few feet away on the ground. Smoke surrounded them, keeping his friends from being able to help him.

His mind blacked out. 

_My little Paladin,_ she cooed in his head. 

“Haggar, noㅡ” 

_”You fight for me, now, Paladin. I own you.”_

_”NO!”_

Lance broke free, ripping himself away from the witch. The movement disrupted the clouds, and Pidge’s grappled zipped past him, grabbing at Haggar. Allura absorbed the rest of the magic in the air, taking it in before slamming a hand on the ground. Pink shot out along the floor to Haggar, launching her off her feet with a shriek. 

Shiro ran, lunging for the final blow. He sliced through her. 

With a screech, Haggar fell to the floor in a limp heap. 

Lance blinked heavily. The dark clouds in his head were gone, and he hadn’t known how much they had been hurting him until they were gone. The room was brighter. He fell to his metal knees.

“I’ve got you,” Shiro said, hurrying to catch him before he collapsed completely.

“Shiro…” Lance groaned. His eyes were too heavy. “I love…”

He slipped into unconsciousness.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, the happy ending we all need. Thanks so much for reading!!

He dreamt of his mother’s hugs. He played with his nieces and nephews. His family told him how much they loved him, how proud they were of him. He missed them. 

The cryopod opened, and he stumbled out into waiting arms. 

He groaned softly, the lights were always too bright in the healing chamber. 

“Coran, the lights are always too bright in here,” Lance complained. 

His team laughed. His friends were there. He opened his eyes completely. 

They were smiling at him, and when Pidge ran forward to hug him, they didn’t stop themselves from joining. Shiro was holding him tightly, telling him that everything is okay. 

Lance smiled, finally feeling at ease for the first time in months. 

“Shiro,” Lance said, facing him. 

“Yes, Lance?” he asked, smiling back. 

“I love you.” 

Lance leaned forward, bringing his lips to Shiro’s. Shiro tensed at first, and then slowly sank into the kiss. 

The rest of the team awkwardly pulled back, laughing. 

“I’m so glad you two are feeling better,” Coran said. 

Lance laughed, and kissed Shiro deeper. 

“C’mon, Lance!”

“Shiro please!” 

"Oh, jeez." 

His team complained, but they were laughing. Shiro and Lance finally broke apart after a few more ticks, and Shiro stood, extending his Galra arm to Lance. 

“They still work?” Lance asked as he stood on his Galra legs, reaching for Shiro. 

“They are indeed still working. We ran the quintessence into the healing pods for you both, and it seems to have kept the functionality in tact and the limbs are under your complete control,” Coran said. 

Lance wasn't sure how to feel about that. He was glad they were still working. He would trade them for his own natural legs any day, but at least the technology was very advanced. Sometimes he forgot they weren't natural. 

Hunk looked to Lance with a bright smile, shaking away his thoughts. “I made food goo carbonara,” he said enticingly, motioning them all towards the door. 

Lance’s stomach growled. “Please, let’s go eat!” 

They made their way to the kitchen, Shiro holding Lance’s hand the entire way. They team celebrated their victory with a food fight, instigated surprisingly by Allura this time. They ended up messy and breathless, laughing together. 

Lance gave Kaltenecker a long-overdue visit, and made some milkshakes for the team. They curled up together in the lounge and set up Mercury Gameflux II and laughed as Lance died repeatedly, Hunk and Pidge playing successfully. 

"No fair, you've had more time to play!" Lance protested, laughing. 

They began to wind down, eyes growing heavy. Allura and Coran came around with a traditional Altean celebratory dessert that tasted like feet with maple syrup. 

Lance scooped Pidge up onto his back and gave her a piggy-back ride around the Castle hallways, their laughter ringing and echoing. Lance activated his legs and warned Pidge to hold on tight. He did a powerful flip with her on his back, and she gripped him tightly, giggling. 

Hunk pulled Keith up on his back and they ran behind, laughing. Shiro, Allura, and Coran walked like responsible adults for a moment, before Shiro playfully pushed Allura into Coran and took off running, the two of them chasing after him. The play fight was easily won when Allura simply picked Shiro up off the ground. 

The rest of the team broke apart, falling to the floor in laughter at the sight. 

It felt so good to laugh with them. 

  


Shiro stole Lance away that night when everyone went their separate ways for bed, finally. He led him into his room. Lance begged to see the Black Lion slippers, and when Shiro finally dug them out, Lance rewarded him with a laugh and a grateful kiss on the cheek. 

"Lance, I'm so glad you're safe and happy," Shiro murmured. 

"I could say the same for you, Shiro," he said warmly. 

"Do you think you would mind calling me Takashi?" Shiro asked shyly. 

"Of course I can," Lance said, his face flushing. It felt so intimate. He leaned up on his toes to give him a soft kiss. "I love you, Takashi." 

Shiro pulled him hungrily into a deeper kiss, breathing deeply. They had a lot of lost time to make up for. Lance happily obliged, relaxing in Shiro's strong hold. 

"I love you too, Lance." 

They eventually made their way to the bed and lay there together. They kissed until they had to gasp for air, and cuddled tightly. They lazily talked quietly about how much fun they had that night. When Lance recalled the fight with Haggar and shuddered, Shiro pulled him in close and kissed him deeply once more. 

They finally fell into a peaceful sleep, free of nightmares. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so, so much for reading!


End file.
